Linear Love
The man said, “This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.” Genesis 2:23 NASB
Taken – Genesis 2:23. The seminal verse of the story. “She shall be proclaimed—called—appointed—announced Woman,” says the Man. Then he offers the reason for this declaration, unique in all ancient Semitic literature. “Because she was taken out.” The verb is laqah. It is familiar. Used more than a thousands times, its umbrella includes “take (get, fetch), lay hold of (seize), receive, acquire (buy), bring, marry (take a wife), snatch (take away).”[1] Theologically the word is extended to include “summoned.” The Woman was summoned out of the Man. That is particularly interesting. The self must be encountered in its own reflection in the other in order to birth self-awareness. Man alone is man incognito.
Love is a bi-directional, linear equation. Before it can extend vertically to God, it must first be experienced horizontally with another. Don’t complain that this makes human relationships more fundamental than divine ones. Apparently God intended it to be this way. The covenant with Him is an extension of the covenant with another. As Sacks points out, this kind of faith is not mysterious. It is the nuts and bolts of day-to-day living with each other. The experience of trauma is resolved in forgiveness. Validating the other’s personality in the give-and-take of grace. It is the willingness to let go of my way in order to walk together. The intimacy of delight is discovered in the act of self-abandonment.
Do you want to know God? Do you want to feel His presence? Do you long for His embrace? Then what are you doing with the one He put next to you? In spite of the fact that our Western world is a world of measurements, we constantly pretend that love is the great mystery. Twenty-nine areas of compatibility do not make us “fall in love.” Chemistry isn’t the whole answer. We think love is fundamentally poetic, a kind of rapturous delight that defies real analysis. Is love measured or is it organic or something else? Hebrew is far more pedestrian. In Hebrew, love is glue. It’s the stickiness of bonded commitment and it shows up in the most ordinary things of living.
Don’t try to “fix” my distress. Just put your arms around me.
Help me whenever you can. You don’t have to ask permission.
Put aside your self-absorption and turn your attention to me.
Forgive me quickly and fully.
Show me that you can be trusted. Do what you say you will do.
Lift up my countenance with surprise.
Shine upon me. And give me peace.
Listen to my feelings, not my words.
Topical Index: love, taken, laqah, Genesis 2:23
[1] Kaiser, W. C. (1999). 1124 לָקַח. In R. L. Harris, G. L. Archer, Jr. & B. K. Waltke (Eds.), Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (481).
The Linear Love of our LORD
Yes, “all of the Above.” Love is patient. Love is kind. Love never fails -and God is love. Because God “SO LOVED” the world, He gave. Benevolence towards another [us] at great cost. Calvary.
Amazing love. Agape love. Love that flows constantly. How can it be? That Thou my God would die for me? The Divine Romance. Oh, how He loves you and me. Oh, the deep, deep love of Jesus. Husbands, love your wives – just as Christ loved the ecclessia, and gave Himself for her. That kind of love. “Other” love. Demonstrated daily in both in our attitudes and in our actions. Love that flows like a river, from a regenerated heart and a renewed mind.
A return to “commandment” #1. You shall love the LORD your God with ALL your heart-soul-mind-and strength. The “ALL” of me. And? And also love your neighbor, the one who is nearest in proximity, to yourself. Love God. [and] love people. Indiscriminate love. Friend, “let us do good unto all men, especially to those who are of the household of faith.” – How may I serve you, today?
Thank you Skip, I needed this, today.
So when Adam complained that he was alone, it wasn’t because he was tired of just himself: it was because he was MISSING himself!
“No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend’s or of thine own were: any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.” John Donne
Amor Lineal
Esta sí es hueso de mis huesos y carne de mi carne. Esta será llamada varona porque del varón ha sido tomada. Gen 2:23 BLA
Tomada – Génesis 2:23. El versículo toral de la historia. “ella será proclamada- llamada- nombrada- anunciada Mujer,” dice el Hombre. Luego ofrece la razón de su declaración, única en toda la literatura Semítica antigua. “Porque ella fue tomada;” El verbo es laqah. Es familiar. Usada más de mil veces, su abanico incluye “tomar (obtener, traer), echar mano de (asir), recibir, adquirir, comprar, desposar (tomar una esposa), arrebatar (quitar).” [1] Teológicamente la palabra es extendida para significar “convocado.” La Mujer fue convocada del hombre. Eso es particularmente interesante. El ser debe encontrarse con su propia reflexión en otro para que pueda nacer la conciencia de sí mismo. El hombre sólo es el hombre incógnito
El amor es una ecuación lineal bidireccional. Antes de poder extenderse verticalmente a Dios, primero debe ser experimentado horizontalmente con otro. No te quejes que esto hace las relaciones humanas más fundamentales que las divinas. Aparentemente Dios lo planeó así. El pacto con él es una extensión del pacto con otros. Como Sacks señala, este tipo de fe no es misteriosa. Es el detalle básico de nuestro día a día con los demás. La experiencia del trauma resulta en el perdón. Dar validez a la personalidad de otro en el dar y tomar por gracia. Es la buena voluntad de abandonar mi camino para poder caminar juntos. La intimidad del placer se descubre en el acto de auto – abandono.
¿Quieres conocer a Dios? ¿Quieres sentir Su presencia? ¿Añoras Su abrazo? Entonces, ¿qué estás haciendo con el que Él puso a tu lado? A pesar del hecho que nuestro mundo occidental es un mundo de medidas, constantemente pretendemos que el amor es un gran misterio. 29 áreas de compatibilidad no hacen que nos “enamoremos.” La química no es la respuesta completa. Pensamos que el amor es fundamentalmente poético, un tipo de deleite extasiado que desafía el análisis real. El amor, ¿puede medirse o es orgánico o es algo más? El hebreo es mucho más pedestre (común). En hebreo, amor es pegamento. Esa pegajosidad de un compromiso Vinculante y se muestra en las cosas más ordinarias de la vida.
No trates de “arreglar” mi aflicción. Sólo envuélveme en tus brazos.
Ayúdame cada vez que puedas. No tienes que pedir permiso.
Deja a un lado tu auto absorción y pon tu atención en mí.
Perdóname rápida y completamente.
Muéstrame que se puede confiar en ti. Haz lo que dijiste que ibas a hacer.
Alza mi semblante con sorpresa.
Brilla sobre mí. Y dame paz.
Escucha mis sentimientos no mis palabras.
[1] Kaiser, W. C. (1999). 1124 לָקַח. In R. L. Harris, G. L. Archer, Jr. & B. K. Waltke (Eds.), Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (481).
Love the feel good sensation stuff dreams , movies and books make millions , G-d, requires , his versions looks much different , and he compares it the Exodus he is chasing after his bride in the desert.
Love, acceptance , understanding , everyone wants . Love the top of emotions , is it muscle like a spiritual relationship ,an energy that creates motion that should always be in motion like a exercising a muscle, a discipline, tolerance , requiring instruction artisty and growth maturing like wisdom and a great wine , they all have desired long term success , investment , love doesn’t always come wrapped in a gift feel good look pretty box or does it die when the object is buried , forgotten or in need of therapy , repair like your sports car , shoe , love needs long term attention … This poverty is a lack of love or is it a genocide, we are doing in our multitasking, ADD version of love confused time investment, appreciation, thank you, gratitude, tolerating a little discomfort learning how to ask, give and waiting , loving indifference and learning..
Not SHOULDING on others , they get in the way our SHOULD”S, BUT”S and the IF’s only s, if you’re the right vegetable that I liked ,the great, gorgeous, good, the giddy, my size, zip code , my religion , similar wealth , Fame the Hollywood, the Holy-Wood , to that which give me prestige , goods, acuity if we are equals, and requires not an instruction or obligation of time work on the less challenging, indifference’s , changes, recognition’s, thank you, appreciations, apologies, forgiveness, hard work yet to do on myself or in my relationships … but I guess G-d has the same cell phone and gets my full attention in my texts
Can I love 100 % ,of Myself , my neighbor, God, Friend only if they have nothing in return to give maybe in friendship , caring is not it’s not an institutional obligation and I can redact at any time or not even the 50 /50 deal ? in a worldly view..
“Before it can extend vertically to God, it must first be experienced horizontally with another. ” I had to think on this one a while, because I always though the opposite. But as I thought on it ,our first relationships are with people it’s through people we learn of God, well because horizontal relationships are so broken, our views of God can be broken as well. Hard to view God in relational terms such as a loving Father if you haven’t experienced that, or that God is love if you have broken views of what love is. I still think we got to get the vertical right, learn who God truly is, what love truly is through Him then our horizontal relationships will be healed.
Sometimes I think the Church pays so much attention to the vertical that it forgets how much we are influenced by the horizontal. That is the subject of my book, Crossing, and, as I happily discovered this week, it is also one of the themes in David Fohrman’s new book. What happens to us in human relationship affects our understanding of the divine and we often find that we need re-parenting in order to come into a real relationship with the Father.
That is so true. I just started Crossing looking forward to delving into it.