GOD'S DESIGN
WEEK 1 | ESTABLISHED ROLES
Each week includes five daily devotionals designed to help you move beyond simply hearing the sermon and begin applying God's Word throughout the week.
If you're married: We encourage you to complete these devotionals together whenever possible. Read the Scripture together. Talk honestly with one another. Pray together. The goal isn't to evaluate your spouse, but to allow God's Word to evaluate and shape you.
If you're single: These devotionals are for you too. Marriage reveals truths about Christ, His Church, sacrificial love, faithfulness, service, and submission that every believer needs. Use this time to grow in Christ, examine your own character, and develop a biblical understanding of marriage whether marriage is part of your future or not.
DAY 1 | GOD'S DESIGN
Before There Was a Marriage Problem, There Was a Marriage Purpose
READ
Genesis 1:26–28; Genesis 2:15–25
“So God created man in His own image; He created him in the image of God; He created them male and female. God blessed them...” Genesis 1:27–28
THE TRUTH
Before culture defined marriage, God designed it.
Before there were arguments about roles, responsibilities, headship, submission, equality, or authority, God created a man and a woman in His image and brought them together.
That is where we have to begin.
Genesis 1 tells us that both man and woman were created in the image of God. There is no difference in their value before God. Both bear His image. Both receive His blessing. Both are given purpose. Both are called to bring Him glory.
Then Genesis 2 shows us that equality does not require sameness.
God placed Adam in the garden and told him to work it and watch over it. His role carried the responsibility to serve what God had entrusted to him and guard what God had placed under his care.
But God Himself declared something was missing: “It is not good for the man to be alone.”
Adam wasn't created to fulfill God's purposes alone.
So God created Eve as his helper and complement. She wasn't another Adam, nor was she inferior to Adam. She was the corresponding complement Adam lacked and needed.
Different, but equal. Distinct, but designed for one another. And when God brought them together, Scripture says they became one flesh. That's God's original picture of marriage. Two people bearing God's image, bringing their unique God-given strengths and responsibilities into a covenant where they become one and together bring glory to God.
The question, then, isn't simply: “What do I want my marriage to look like?”
A better question is: “What did God create marriage to look like?”
Because marriage doesn't begin with us. Marriage begins with God.
REFLECT
- When you think about marriage and the roles of a husband and wife, what has influenced your understanding most: Scripture, your family, your experiences, culture, or something else?
- Genesis presents man and woman as equal image-bearers while also giving them distinction and purpose. Is it difficult for you to hold equality and different roles together? Why?
- Before considering what someone else should be doing differently, ask yourself: Am I willing to let God's Word define my role and reshape my understanding of relationships?
A HAPPILY MARRIED REMINDER
Don't use God's Word to evaluate your spouse before allowing God's Word to evaluate you.
TOGETHER OR INDIVIDUALLY
IF YOU'RE MARRIED
Take a few minutes and answer this together:
What influences have shaped the way each of us thinks a husband and wife are “supposed” to act?
Maybe it was your parents' marriage. Maybe it was a healthy example. Maybe it was an unhealthy one. Maybe you learned what you wanted your marriage to be by watching what you never wanted it to become.
Listen to each other without correcting or defending.
Then ask:
Where might God need to reshape our understanding of marriage through His Word?
The goal isn't to determine who has the better understanding.
The goal is to bring both of your understandings under Jesus.
IF YOU'RE SINGLE
Consider the relationships and marriages that have shaped your understanding of marriage.
What have you learned from them, both positively and negatively?
Then consider whether some of your expectations about marriage come more from what you've experienced than from what God has revealed.
Whether marriage is in your future or not, begin allowing Scripture to define marriage rather than your experiences.
FROM THE MARRIAGE CREED
“I will be faithful to my spouse by first remaining faithful to Christ.”
Before we can faithfully live out God's design in marriage, we must first faithfully follow the One who designed it.
For the married person, your spouse cannot take Jesus' place.
For the single person, a future spouse cannot take Jesus' place.
Our relationships become healthiest when Jesus remains first.
RESPOND
TODAY I WILL...
Identify one belief or expectation about marriage or relationships that you need to bring before God and compare with His Word.
I need to allow God to reshape my understanding of:
because:
PRAY
Father, You created us in Your image and designed us to bring You glory. Thank You that our value and purpose are found first in You. Help us recognize where culture, past experiences, hurt, pride, or selfishness have shaped our understanding more than Your Word. Teach us to trust Your design.
For those who are married, help us stop focusing first on what our spouse should change and begin asking where You desire to change us.
For those who are single, help us build our understanding of marriage and relationships upon Your truth rather than our expectations or experiences.
Above everything else, teach us to follow Jesus faithfully. May every relationship in our lives increasingly reflect His love, His character, and His glory.
Amen.
THIS WEEK
We began with God's design. But Genesis doesn't leave Adam and Eve in Genesis 2.
Tomorrow: What happens to God's design when sin enters the marriage?