SoS 1-3
Now here is a book that I truly do not understand!! What does this book have to do with anything??? And so I sought some help. I would strongly encourage you to look up the video and article by “The Bible Project” on this book and why it is in the Bible. They do a great job of looking into this question. Actually, all of The Bible Project’s stuff is very good. The general gist, as I understood it, is that this book is in the Bible to teach us about love. Specifically, the passionate kind. This book of poems tells a story of the love between a man and a woman and, thus, gives us an ideal picture of this gift from God. Their love is passionate, but the intimacy goes beyond the mere physical.
God made man in His image. Woman, also made in God’s image, was given to man as an ideal partner because it was not good for him to be alone. Given those truths, I believe that this gift of ideal love between a man and a woman is also an image of God’s relationship with us. God is perfect, all-encompassing love and, just as He created woman for man, He created us for His good pleasure (because He wanted us to be). So let me learn about God’s ideal, passionate love that I might both seek Him passionately and be faithful to the one He gave me to love.
Acts 6
When a complaint arose in the Church regarding distributions to widows, the apostles said, “It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables.” Instead, they chose seven deacons to tend to the issue. When they did this, they weren’t at all saying that they were too good or too important to serve tables. They knew that Jesus had given them a specific mission. Likewise, they knew Jesus had provided them with the necessary gifts to fulfill that mission. If they were to forsake the mission and ministry that God gave to them, who would do it? Recognizing that God gives different gifts for different aspects of ministry, they instead chose seven “men of good repute” to serve in this other capacity so that they could continue to serve in their own God-given capacity.
There is no one area of service to God and His people that is better or more important than any other. They all matter. I also find it interesting that one of the seven chosen men was “a proselyte of Antioch”. This means that the man was born a Greek – a Gentile – but had fully converted to Judaism and was now among the followers of Christ. He was a Jew, but not a Jew, yet he was chosen for a position of servant leadership in Christ’s new Church. We all matter as part of the body of Christ.