Everything Comes from God

 DEVOTION

THE 1^ST LETTER TO THE CORINTHIANS

EVERYTHING COMES FROM GOD

1 Cor 11:11-16

11 In the Lord, however, woman is not independent of man, nor is man independent of woman. 12 For as woman came from man, so also man is born of woman. But everything comes from God. 13 Judge for yourselves: Is it proper for a woman to pray to God with her head uncovered? 14 Does not the very nature of things teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a disgrace to him, 15 but that if a woman has long hair, it is her glory? For long hair is given to her as a covering. 16 If anyone wants to be contentious about this, we have no other practice — nor do the churches of God.

NIV

We are still on the hair issue that isn’t really about the hair, although on the surface that is what Paul is instructing the church about the practice of men having short hair and women having long hair. Once again, we know from history that men have had long hair during certain times, and now of course, some men and women have long hair, and some of both have short hair. We certainly do not make any deal about the length of hair in the church today, and it would seem right that should be the case. There are some holiness churches that do abide by this rule, as well as some of the more rigid faiths that also include the types of proper clothing. However, the truth that is also stated here regarding everything coming from God is an absolute truth that we should continually be cognizant of. However, before we explore this, we should also note that the relationship between man and woman is symbiotic in that Eve was made from the rib of Adam, or as Paul puts it, woman came from man, however, man is also born of a woman, at least since that first Adam, who was formed by the hand of God. Neither man nor woman is independent for either can survive without the other. If a woman thinks she is independent of a man, she is deceiving herself and her thinking is both futile and foolish. On the other hand, if a man thinks that he is independent of a woman and has no need for a woman, he too is deceiving himself with futile and foolish thinking. Both men and women come from both men and women and that is the plan of God. We should also note that because Eve was made from the rib of Adam, God was showing us His plan for how we live together. He did not take a bone from Adam's head putting Eve over Adam, nor a bone from his foot, placing Eve as his servant. God took a rib so as to show us that man and woman should walk side by side as equals in the sight of God.  However, another plan of God is to show us that all things come from Him. If either of us, men or women think we are independent of God then we are not just deceiving ourselves, but we are absolutely lost in our self-pride. We have no life without God, both think of physical life that we have His very breath within us, but in our spiritual life. For without God we would remain dead in our sins, and lost for all eternity, not having eternal life, but for all eternity we would have perished, or as some would put it, burning in the lake of sulfur forever in torment. Although it does seem to make sense that when anything is thrown into the fire it is burnt up until it becomes nothing but ashes or it perishes. Nevertheless, the point is that we need to always give thanks to God for life itself and life abundantly, which is eternal life. If it were not for God, we would not even exist, but we do and we do for the purpose of bringing honor and glory to God, for we are made in his image, and thus we are His image bearers to the world. Everything comes from God.