Laws of Relationships
We look at the importance of relatonships and how the effect us in our lives.
Designed for Relationships
Inherent in the constitutional likeness of God in man and demonstrated in the functional likeness is the fact that man is designed for relationships. A human being cannot be adequately described apart from these relationships. In fact, people will die, suffer malfunction, or be less than human according to what relationship or relationships are involved and depending upon the extent to which they are deprived, or deprive themselves, of these relationships. These relationships are (1) man’s relationship to God; (2) his relationship to other people; (3) his relationship to the created order; and (4) his relationship to himself.
Human beings are designed for a relationship with God. Man’s relationship to God is seen in his fellowship with and his responsibility to God.
Human beings are designed for social relationships. In Genesis 2:18, God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him.” The direct reference here is to making a wife for Adam. However, considering that a human being is a member of a race, it is obvious that social relationships are a part of the design of God. A person’s need for reciprocal social relationships is no less real than his need for air, water, and food. God created this need for social relationships in our basic design, and it cannot be ignored without serious consequences. We can infer from Genesis 2:18 that it is not good for man to be a loner.
Human beings are designed for a relationship to the created order (Gen. 1:26, 28–30; Ps. 8:6–8). God designed man for the responsibility of exercising dominion over the earth, plants, and animals. This meant that man had a management responsibility over the created order. That responsibility was to be used to meet his needs and to serve his purposes. It is often referred to as the “Cultural Mandate.”
Our relationship with the material universe is more than a means of survival. God designed it for our pleasure and enjoyment. It presents us with a challenge. It is an opportunity for us to put our creative minds to work. The Cultural Mandate sanctifies and elevates to the level of divine service the work of farmers, housekeepers, skilled workers, helpers, scientists, engineers, artists, etc. The list could go on. When done for the glory of God, all that we do is a divine service. The challenge is great. Work was a part of the original plan of God for man. It did not involve the undesirable aspects that it does now, but work has always been a part of the divine plan.
This managerial responsibility must also involve a concern for ecology. We must be concerned about the condition of things as we pass them on to future generations.
In the Cultural Mandate, God is saying to every human being: I have made you in My image. I have given you a mind. Your mind is capable of taking what I have given you in the physical universe and achieving much that will be for your enjoyment, comfort, deep satisfaction, and My glory. The possibilities of creative achievement are limitless. I have given you a moral nature. My laws are written in your heart. As you carry out this Mandate, your mind is to do its work under the supervision of your moral nature. See what you can do with the challenge that is before you. One day, I will have you report to Me to see how good a steward you have been of the opportunities you have had.
The fall of man complicated matters in the fulfillment of this Mandate. But the Mandate still remains in force. Stephen M. Ashby reminds us that “it is our responsibility as stewards of this divine command to educate people to think Christianly with an integrated and unified field of knowledge in regards to their faith with their learning.”
Man was designed for a relationship with himself. Anytime there is responsibility and challenge, there is also a place for self-examination. How did I do? How can I face the challenge that is before me? Genesis 2 presents two clear illustrations of responsibility: the responsibility (1) to refrain from eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Gen. 2:17) and (2) to exercise dominion over the earth and its inhabitants.
To eat of the forbidden fruit was to reap the consequences of death. It would also make man guilty. Guilt when recognized by a person becomes self-judgment on the negative side. To refrain from eating would have produced self-acceptance on the positive side. The responsibility to exercise dominion over the earth has the same basic results so far as self-judgment and self-acceptance are concerned. The moral tone may not be as strong, but the same basic principles are involved.
In connection with the responsibility placed upon man and the challenge given to him, we see that man is goal-oriented. Achievement with its rewards, as well as failure with its losses, are inescapable parts of human beings that were designed in them by their Creator.