In a recent meeting with our staff, there was a moment where we were talking about married couples. And we talked about a lot of things in our calls, but we’re talking about married couples or an issue that married couples face. And one of the women on the team brought up a guideline, a kind of a path for that they found really helpful in working with couples. And there’s kind of this unanimous chorus among the women on the team. Like that’s so great. That’s fantastic. And meanwhile, the men of the team are silent. It was kind of like, very different response. And as I listened to what this specific piece was, I was like, well, actually, I don’t I don’t see it that way. I’m not sure that’s a great idea. It could be, but not in every situation. And so we started talking about it. And it was really a fascinating conversation, because the men on the team and the women on the team saw things differently. Now, that doesn’t always happen. And and as we talked, I think we came more to the middle and hearing each other and seeing the benefit that each was bringing to the other, which is, I think a great example of what God designed men and women for. It was not good, that Adam was alone. It wasn’t enough companionship for him. It wasn’t an accurate representation of God, that Adam alone would image him on the earth. We needed both Adam and Eve, both men and women, and we need today, both man and woman. And I’m kind of I’ve been meditating for years now and this idea that, that we as men and women bear the image of God, that there’s something about us that, you know, looking at the Ancient Near Eastern religions, it was very normal for different religions to have idols of their gods and so, and the idols made of wood or stone or some kind of precious metal, wood, the understanding was that even though it was just a, you know, a craftsman had made this out of out of material, that that somehow the God would, would abide in the image. And so people would bow down before if they had house idol, they bow down before the House idol. If there were idols in the temple, they would bow down before the idols in the temple. We even know from the book of Daniel, the time that that all all of the the Israelites in Babylon were forced to bow down before this huge idol of the king. There’s this kind of the sense of the God, his his essence was in that idol. Well, we know from the 10 commandments, that we are forbidden from worshiping any other God any idol besides the one true God. And throughout the Old Testament, we’re told not to fashion, an image of this God, we’re not to fashion an idol. We’re not to use stone or precious metal or wood, to fashion, something of Yahweh. But and we might ask, Well, why not? And I think the answer is in Genesis one. Because in the very beginning, God created humankind in His image and likeness, humankind not as an idol to be worshipped. And we’ll get into that in a minute. But as an icon, expressing what Yahweh is like expressing what the the one Creator God, all things is like, and and man and woman, are the expression of that not man alone, not woman alone, but men and woman together are the expression of God on the earth. And so why not create an image because God has already created an image, he’s already created his ideal representative of what he is like and moving from there, he has actually designed us to be in union with us. So in Genesis two, he felt he fashions out of the dust of the earth, this first human creature, Adam, and he breathes his breath and animates this, this dirt creature and the scripture say it becomes a living being. So unlike all the other idols in the ancient Near East, the God of Israel is the God that that Yahweh is the God who’s whose icon whose representative, actually the living creature who walks on the Earth man and woman. Hey, friends, if you have something we should be talking about on the show, let us know. Send us an email at [email protected]. In the meantime, please be sure to review rate subscribe and share this podcast. But back to the show. My intention is not to give a theological lesson here in this podcast but but to park for a moment on trying to get us to step back and consider withdraw the beauty of male and female the beauty of man and woman and what it means to be man and woman. And the value of both. And I think as we and I said I’ve been mentioning this for for years. And there are times where I’m struck with this idea that, that men when a woman walks into the room, we’re not to idolize her right to worship her. But there is there is a sense that if we understood her correctly, if we saw her correctly, if we had eyes to see her as she is designed by God to be, that we would want to kneel down in front of her in respect, and, and glory, because of, of how she embodies in this living creature, how she embodies an aspect of the the one true God, and vice versa, when a man walks into the room there, there ought to be some sense of that. And again, I’m not in any way suggesting you know, that some subservience or, you know, men you should, you know, grovel at women’s feet or vice versa and not I’m that’s not my intention. I don’t think that’s God’s intention. I think his intention is, is to elevate men and elevate women, I think we are some people have put it, human beings are meant to be the crown of creation.

And this is one of the reasons I’m passionate about this area of ministry, and passionate about helping men and women overcome sexual sin issues because sexual sin, in many ways, just come towards that either idolizes sexually idolises, the male or female body, it’s it, idolizes sex, which is, you know, the human person, male and female is designed for marital union, marital sexual union. And so the perversion of sex is a perversion of God’s image or what God is what the human person is meant to image through their marital sexual union. And, and then likewise, if there’s a same sex coupling, or any other kind of coupling, that also distorts the image of God in the male and female. So, all of these things and God’s designed for sexuality, what he’s designed is for is not just kind of like a rigid, Thou shalt not, it actually is meant to be this greater, bigger, more beautiful expression of, of God’s image on the earth. So the single man who never marries is an expression of the image of God walking on the earth and icon of God walking the earth, a single woman is is an icon of God walking the earth, men and women together in lifelong committed loving marriage is is meant to, in nother whole way express the image of God walking on the earth. There having children is meant to express the image of God and the earth. And on and on, we go. And we just we can plunge deep into that this is what Pope John Paul the second called the Theology of the Body, and I’m just scratching the surface of it. Well, with all of that said, all of that said, I have an exciting announcement to make. For those of you have listened to podcasts for a long time, you know that, that we’ve been through a few different iterations of what the regeneration podcast is, and we are going to continue to grow and develop that. But adding to our family of podcasts. This week, we are launching a podcast by the women on our team for women, called sacred by design. And the heart of this podcast is that women would listen and grow week by week by week, to understand more fully that they are through and through sacred by design. Every week, the podcast will dive into take a deep dive into conversations about desire and intimacy and sexuality and parenting and you name it. And each podcast ends with a spiritual discipline, walking through a spiritual exercise to help you actually grow in your own sense of who God has designed you to be. And listen, I can’t state this highly enough that the women on our team are heading this up. So Andrea, who’s been on our team for this last year, is hosting the podcast each week, she’ll talk to a different member of our team ket and Rebecca Kyle, to dive into some of these topics. And I just have the utmost respect for each of these women. It’s not just their understanding of the topics they’re talking about. It’s it’s it’s not just how they’ve walked with men and women who are wrestling with these topics. It’s also their own humility and the journey they take in their lives to dive deep. So the things we’re talking about are not just theoretical. They’re things that they are living out and living through or have lived out and have lived through. I think it’s going to bless you tremendously. So if you’re a woman, and you’ve been listening to this podcast, by all means continue, we’re not kicking you out of here. But we would strongly invite you encourage you take a listen to sacred by design, you’ll find a link to it in the show notes to this podcast. It’s also not just available wherever you listen to podcast, it’s also available on YouTube because we’ve been filming it. So you’ll actually get a glimpse of the people who are who you’re listening to. which I think helps to make it more personal. So brothers and sisters, I hope this has been encouraging to you my dear sisters, please give a listen to sacred By design, I think you will be blessed. And I think it will deeply enrich your life, your spiritual journey with the Lord as you continue on your journey towards becoming whole and acknowledging, embracing, drinking deeply of God’s love for you, that you would know more and more and more that you’re sacred by design. Bless you.