7 day plan

Love your Neighbour (and your Enemies)

Day 1 of 7

NIV

Genesis 2:18-23

18The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”

19Now the Lord God had formed out of the ground all the wild animals and all the birds in the sky. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. 20So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds in the sky and all the wild animals.

But for Adam no suitable helper was found. 21So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and then closed up the place with flesh. 22Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.

23The man said,

“This is now bone of my bones

and flesh of my flesh;

she shall be called ‘woman,’

for she was taken out of man.”

Series Introduction

At the heart of the Christian story is the love of God for his people. But the staggering thing is the way God’s love extends to his enemies as well. That same love compels God’s people to extend love to neighbour and enemy.

Reflection: Made for community

The story of humanity begins with a single solitary person. Created in the image of God, Adam is gifted for the task of being steward over God’s good world, a task which he completes through both care and cultivation. It’s a scene rich with potential – there is gold to be found (v.11) and so much can be enjoyed (v.9 and v.16).

Then a complication enters the plot. In 2:18, for the very first time in Genesis, God says that something is “not good.” Up until this point, everything has been good, good, even very good (see Gen 1:31). What could possibly be lacking?

The LORD says, “it is not good for the man to be alone.” This seems jarring at first. How can Adam be alone? He’s got God, doesn’t he? Yet there is something missing for Adam if he doesn’t have other human beings to relate to. In other words, we weren’t just made for God, however pious that might sound. We were made for each other.

Even more intriguing is the way Eve is described. She is Adam’s “helper.” Before you let this trigger you into thinking that Eve is demoted to the level of a hired hand, the word “helper” is usually applied to God (Deut 33:7, 29; Psalm 70:5; 121:2; 124:8; Hos 13:9). Adam is not sufficient on his own. He needs the help of others. Not just God’s help – no, the help of other people.

At the essence of God’s vision for humanity is that we were made to know one another, and to help one another. So it should not surprise that the richest expressions of life together are those which create space for us to love one another. We were not made merely to enjoy community – we were made to participate in community.

Question:  Ponder the communities you belong to. Are you a spectator or a participant?

Prayer:  Dear God, thank you that you made us to live in community, to know one another and to help one another. Thank you for all those in my life, who help me in large ways and small ways. Help me to participate in the communities I belong to, rather than simply spectate. Amen.

The Holy Bible, New International Version® NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by Permission of Biblica, Inc.® All rights reserved worldwide.

Days

1
2
3
4
5
6
7

Genesis 2:1-25

1Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array.

2By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. 3Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.

Adam and Eve

4This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created, when the Lord God made the earth and the heavens.

5Now no shrub had yet appeared on the earth and no plant had yet sprung up, for the Lord God had not sent rain on the earth and there was no one to work the ground, 6but streams came up from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground. 7Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.

8Now the Lord God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed. 9The Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground—trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

10A river watering the garden flowed from Eden; from there it was separated into four headwaters. 11The name of the first is the Pishon; it winds through the entire land of Havilah, where there is gold. 12(The gold of that land is good; aromatic resin and onyx are also there.) 13The name of the second river is the Gihon; it winds through the entire land of Cush. 14The name of the third river is the Tigris; it runs along the east side of Ashur. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.

15The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. 16And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; 17but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”

18The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”

19Now the Lord God had formed out of the ground all the wild animals and all the birds in the sky. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. 20So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds in the sky and all the wild animals.

But for Adam no suitable helper was found. 21So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, he took one of the man’s ribs and then closed up the place with flesh. 22Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.

23The man said,

“This is now bone of my bones

and flesh of my flesh;

she shall be called ‘woman,’

for she was taken out of man.”

24That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh.

25Adam and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.

The Holy Bible, New International Version® NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by Permission of Biblica, Inc.® All rights reserved worldwide.