Cliff R. and myself will be heading back out to India this March, along with Dona G. and Mike W. We are going as part of a medical team, which will be holding clinics in remote areas, where many have never even seen a doctor, let alone a "Western Doctor" who has travelled from the other side of the planet to care for them.

This is not considered a "mission trip" due to the fact that India has some very strict anti-conversion laws, particularly when it comes to the involvement of foreigners. However, what we do is part of a larger effort, and does much to communicate to those most downtrodden that there really is a God Who created them, Who is deeply concerned for their welfare, and Who went to great lengths to provide for a reconciled relationship with Himself, as well as with each other. The work we do only lends that much more credibility to the work of several Christian organizations in India who have become so widely respected, that prominent Buddhist and Moslem leaders actively encourage lower caste Indians to seek out these Christians, saying that the only real hope for a better life is through the message and the lifestyle they bring. What a change from the days of Ghandi, who stated that he could not become a Christian, because he took issue not with Christ, but rather with Christ's followers.

Genesis 1:27 states: God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.

Consider this: Of all the possible characteristics that could have been associated with what it means to be created in the image of God, only one is mentioned in the creation account: Maleness and Femaleness.

Mandated activities aside [multiplying, filling the earth, and ruling over all creation*], GENDER is the first direct clue we are given in the Bible as to what it means to be designed to reflect the image of God. If this is true, have we missed something in our understanding of Godliness? 

I am of the mind that just as our culture has in many ways tried to say that there is no essential difference between men and women (and that if you don't want to get busted for sexism, you'd better not try to say there is), so the church has, for the most part, neglected to grapple with this supremely important issue.

Much fun has been poked at seemingly arbitrary standards that have dictated what was okay for men but not for women and vice versa down through the ages. We pride ourselves today on having advanced beyond that kind of narrow thinking. But have there ever been so many who were so confused about their own sexual identity, as in our time of such knowledge and "enlightenment"?

It is said that every generation has its blind spots. Is our generation in the midst of a big gigantic blind spot when it comes to matters of maleness and femaleness? Do we even have a clue how God's very image could possibly be displayed in the interplay between masculinity and femininity? And is it just me, or does the church seem to shy away from discussing these things in depth?

I am anxious to hear your thoughts!

[*For the purposes of this discussion, I am leaving aside the three mandated activities mentioned in Genesis 1:26, 28: multiplying, filling the earth, and ruling over all creation. While I believe right action is essential, we seem to know so much about the nature of what we are supposed to do, yet very little about the nature of who we are.]

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. And the earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep; and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters. Then God said, “Let there be light”. (Genesis 1:1-3)

There is a pattern established in the opening verses of the Bible: that of God initially creating something, and subsequently forming it step by step. And precedent to the first formative step is darkness and the hovering of the Spirit of God. Then God speaks, and the first thing that happens is the appearance of light. Afterward there is much dividing of this from that, which is prerequisite to conditions suitable for life – much the same as the preparation that took place through John the Baptist before Jesus came on the scene: every rough place had to be made plain – the hills and the valleys had to be dealt with and the ground made level first.

I believe something implied by these verses (and confirmed elsewhere in Scripture) is that His Spirit is ever hovering over me. There is nothing I need to do to bring that about. He is already here, upon me. All that remains is for me in my formlessness to be still in the deep darkness; listening and waiting for Him to speak. It is not a question of whether He will speak, either. Really, isn’t it a question of me slowing down long enough to hear? Just as it says in Psalm 46:10

Cease striving and know that I am God;

There must be a stillness – a rest from works and striving – before one can truly know that He is God.