What Is a Man?Sýnishorn

Created for Others

When God created everything from nothing, He would make something, and then declare that it was “good.”

The sun, moon, stars, waters, fish, birds, animals, plants—God made them all and called them all “good.”

He created the first man, Adam, in His image, which means that, unlike any other created thing, we humans reflect the nature of God Himself.

This includes reflecting His emotions—for those who say men aren’t emotional!

Untrue—we are all emotional because we are made in the image of an emotional God (e.g. Zephaniah 3:17; Isaiah 62:5; Psalm 78:40; Deuteronomy 9:22; Psalm 7:11; Psalm 135:14; John 3.16; etc.).

But with Adam’s God-imaged creation, for the first time, God does not say that this was “good.”

To be more precise, God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone” (Genesis 2:18).

Adam had a face-to-face relationship with God and every creature on earth available, but even so, God knew that man needed something else too, so He created woman.

With woman created, Creation was finally complete and “very good” (Genesis 1:31), and God put in place the manner in which humanity would procreate. Other than our first Eden parents, every person on earth exists because a man and a woman joined together, and life was the result.

We see in God’s design for man the purpose of being joined to woman, and the purpose of creating the next generation. The roles of husband and father were something that God designed, and as men, we are called to live them out faithfully.

Man’s loneliness would not just be solved through marriage, of course. Not all men are married, and if you are not, you are following in the footsteps of our bachelor Saviour! For the single man, it is also not good to be alone, and there are extended friends, family, churches, and brothers in Christ to walk with.

Jesus, the perfect Man, had perfect communion with His Heavenly Father, but nonetheless spent much of His time with a community of other men (Matthew 10:2). Although He walked closer with the Father than any other human, even Jesus needed others in His life.

Men were not created to be alone. Through marriage, fatherhood, families, friendship, and the Church, men find support and strength from others in life and find a place where they might strengthen and support others. We were made for community.

Prayer: Lord, thank You for Your design in life. Thank You for creating women alongside us, and thank You for other friends and family members You have made for us to walk with as well. Help us to find community in this life with others You have made. Amen.

Reflection: What relationships in your life are the most important for pushing back loneliness? Where are you the one pushing back loneliness in others? Where might you go and do that today?