‘Then God said, “Let us make human beings in our image, to be like us. They will reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the livestock, all the wild animals on the earth, and the small animals that scurry along the ground.” So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. Then God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and govern it. Reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, and all the animals that scurry along the ground.”’ Genesis 1:26-28(NLT)
‘This is the account of the creation of the heavens and the earth.
The Man and Woman in Eden
When the Lord God made the earth and the heavens, neither wild plants nor grains were growing on the earth. For the Lord God had not yet sent rain to water the earth, and there were no people to cultivate the soil. Instead, springs came up from the ground and watered all the land. Then the Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground. He breathed the breath of life into the man’s nostrils, and the man became a living person. Then the Lord God planted a garden in Eden in the east, and there he placed the man he had made. The Lord God made all sorts of trees grow up from the ground—trees that were beautiful and that produced delicious fruit. In the middle of the garden he placed the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. A river flowed from the land of Eden, watering the garden and then dividing into four branches. The first branch, called the Pishon, flowed around the entire land of Havilah, where gold is found. The gold of that land is exceptionally pure; aromatic resin and onyx stone are also found there. The second branch, called the Gihon, flowed around the entire land of Cush. The third branch, called the Tigris, flowed east of the land of Asshur. The fourth branch is called the Euphrates. The Lord God placed the man in the Garden of Eden to tend and watch over it. But the Lord God warned him, “You may freely eat the fruit of every tree in the garden— except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If you eat its fruit, you are sure to die.”’ Genesis 2:4-17(NLT)
Before there was ever a person on this earth—and in fact before there was even an earth—there was already relationship. How’s that? It’s because God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit existed as three persons in one.
Now, I can’t totally explain the Trinity. Nobody can. It’s real, but how it works goes beyond our ability to comprehend. The thing is, the Bible makes it clear that the three persons of the Trinity have dwelled together forever.
Meaning relationship was, is, and forever will be. Cool, huh?
Maybe the coolest thing about all this (for us anyway) is that humanity was created out of that everlasting relationship. The Trinity had a conversation and agreed, “Let us make human beings in our own image” (Genesis 1:26). The Trinity didn’t need us. They were already perfect, complete, and fulfilled within Themselves. But out of the overflow of Their love, They decided to create humans, both male and female.
The first human, Adam, lived in the Garden of Eden with God as his companion from his first day. In other words, he had a relationship with God before there was even one other human to know.
The picture we get in Genesis 2—3 is that God and Adam were homies. They would hang together in the garden, talk about this and that, and take walks to look at the shiny new plants and animals while enjoying the cool evening breeze together. All by themselves, just the two of them.
Here’s what we need to get out of this: No matter what other relationships we have (or don’t have), all of us can have a relationship with God. Through Christ, He invites us into the same kind of connection He has within the Trinity—a loving, giving relationship.
Even though the top relationship goal we have on our minds right now probably is finding or improving a human relationship, it’s important to see how our relationship with God should come first and above all other relationships. It’s the relationship, our ultimate relationship, and all blessings flow out of that relationship.
What is your relationship with God like? How does it affect your human relationships?
from Relationship Goals Pastor by Michael Todd