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Read: Genesis 1:27-28
Listen: Genesis 1

So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. Genesis 1:27

In the beginning, God creates man and woman with purpose and intention. He forms both male and female in his image, each distinct yet equally valuable. He then establishes marriage as a reflection of himself. Just as Father, Son and Holy Spirit exist in perfect relationship—equal in nature yet distinct in role—God designs marriage to mirror this divine partnership. Centuries later, Paul writes to believers in the bustling city of Ephesus about how to live together in Jesus. He doesn’t invent new teaching about marriage. Instead, he points back to this Genesis blueprint (Ephesians 5:31). The Ephesian church includes people from vastly different backgrounds, and Paul reminds them that every relationship, including marriage, should grow from the soil of Jesus’s example on the cross.

The world today offers many definitions of marriage and what it can be. God, as our creator, knows what is best for us. We are called to surrender to his design for our good and flourishing. We submit to his authority when we release our desire to define our world and instead live according to his Word. For instance, as husbands and wives serve, encourage and love each other, they show a watching world what God is like. This is his design for all of our relationships, including marriage.

TODAY: Using Genesis as a starting point, ask God whether your view of marriage and relationships lines up with his Word. Ask him to reveal the places where you aren’t reflecting his design. Then ask him for strength to more fully reflect his heart of service in relationships.