Lost Shaker of Salt

Marriage was ordained for the mutual help of husband and wife.... -Westminster Confession of Faith 24.2

It might have been Plato who wrote that man and woman were originally one being, with four arms, four legs and two faces. Zeus. the story goes, was jealous of their unity and afraid of their strength.

So he separated them and ever since, we have had to search for our other half, the one who could complete us.

Paul noted, in Acts 17, that the Greeks oftentimes shot very near the mark, considering that they were aiming in darkness.

It is interesting to remember that the Greeks also looked upon womankind as a curse from the gods; trouble wrapped in a beautiful package.

The biblical account, in Genesis 2, reveals the truth of the situation. God, in his wisdom, completed his creation of humankind by making a partner for the man, whom he created first ("it is not good that the man should be alone"). And that which was created separately became one.

Of course, sin entered into the picture and not only were the man and woman separated from God, but divided from each other.

It doesn't take a lot of skill at extrapolation to posit that the dividing force in Greek mythology is similar to the being credited with inciting man to rebel against his creator and thus bring suffering, division and death into a world that had been created "very good."

Believing that God has all things under his sovereign control, I can't help but believe that he chose for me the one who would complete me and I her. That this completion has occurred in the context of our completion in Christ, I also firmly believe.

It is our nature to follow our desire, to do "that which seems good" to us. This means we seek first that which "is pleasing to the eye."

And let's face it, that's as far as it goes in many instances. The result is that (like the Texas tornado and the Tennessee divorce) somebody just lost a trailer.

In every case, the longing is for that lost "other."And as in all other things, in Christ alone is that longing truly fulfilled.

Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate. -Mark 10:9