Lydia asked: ___________________________   I've often wondered how Christian guys felt about the concept of being the Bride of Christ... Maybe some of you men can share?   _______________________________   Many years ago I was pining for a girl that loved someone else and the pain was unbearable. In a moment of great anguish I asked God rhetorically, "Lord, why did you ever make us male and female because this hurts so much?" He surprised me by answering with an answer that was beyond all expectation.   He reminded me of when Adam was yet alone without Eve and God brought all the animals to Adam to see what Adam would call them; yet among them was none suitable for a mate for Adam. He asked me what I thought all that meant and I surely did not know. In fact I had never even thought about it before and how strange it seemed now to even think that either Adam or God could think for a moment that there COULD or WOULD be a suitable mate for Adam found among the animal species...   When I had pondered for a while and could come to no conclusions, then God finally told me what that meant. He said it was to demonstrate for us all what it was like for Him, God, before He had yet made mankind. God told me that the animals were to Adam what the angels were like to God before man was created. The picture was that God actually looked among all the angel hosts to see if there was any that would be suitable as a mate for Himself, but he found none suitable; and so He came to the conclusion that it was not good for Himself as God to be alone so He would make a mate for Himself.   The mate that He would make for himself, in His own image would have to understand His own feelings toward her so He in His wisdom created this being male and female in one being and also created the animals first and brought them to this being. God wanted Adam to feel what He was feeling; the aloneness and desire for a suitable mate. It was necessary therefore to make Adam male and female and to also give him the capacity for offspring so that we as creatures could understand the longing of love for that which has come forth of our own loins. (God brought this up to Jonah at the gourd when Jonah had more compassion for it than he had for the people of Nineveh, remember?)   That day, God allowed me to see and understand the great love that He has for us and to view it through the love I had for this girl who did not even know me and had not responded to my wooing her and longing to be with her. But instead she had chosen a guy who treated her very badly and it broke my heart to watch this. But there was nothing I could do about it so I complained to God and His answer was to show me how He also hurts for mankind who has chosen this evil world over Him.   When God separated Adam's rib and made Eve and brought her to Adam He was demonstrating how we are brought out of God's own life and yet are separate enough to go our own way if we choose to. But for doing so (sin) comes death. Well, without going into all the depth of all that, let me just get to Lydia's question...   It was in the midst of this understanding of all God was sharing with me in this that I began to notice the way that we were talking together and I was so in love with Him. He was "flirting" with me and I was flirting back but to my complete amazement, I noticed rather startlingly that I was in the role of the "female" in the relationship. He was extremely "Male" to me and there was no confusing my role at all; I was the female. But I was not uncomfortable with that in the least. I can only feebly try and explain it that it is more like rank than like a sexual thing. As a high ranking officer in the military has no trouble recognizing when a higher ranking officer enters the room and naturally shows proper respect. There is no uncomfortableness at all because the ranks are secure and all recognize the lines where they are drawn. I can very easily submit myself to Him because I understand His love for me and where I fit into His plans. My "femaleness" is more about position and "rank" as it were, than about being overly feminine to His maleness, and yet strangely, there was a hint of that too. It's as though my own maleness fades enough to allow for His to overtake me and I become His bride and forget about my own earthly relationships and am transformed into His bride and earthly things are forgotten. The earthly is for the purpose of teaching of the heavenly. This is why Jesus scolded Nicodemus when He said how can you understand the heavenly if you cannot properly grasp the earthly?   I hope this helps to answer your question.   Barry Amundsen