The Matter of Difference by Valerie Wayne

The Matter of Difference by Valerie Wayne

What are the most important relationships in your life?

Which relationships most shape your identity?

Are those relationships shaping you positively or negatively?

How should those relationships be shaping you?

The Relational God began with the question, If God could have created us to be in any sort of relationships, why did He create us to be children, spouses, siblings, and parents? Because our identities are so closely tied to those relationships, we often don't take time to consider what they may actually be meant to show us. Perhaps there is something bigger that God wants us to understand through our identities as children, our identities as spouses, our identities as siblings, and our identities as parents.

The Relational God considers our common experiences in these relationships and then looks at Biblical narratives which challenge and support those experiences. The book then distills down the Biblical commands for each of those relationships in order to determine what doing them right might teach us about the nature and character of God.

What we discover is that God created these relationships--and the rules which govern them--to serve as living metaphors that reveal truths about Himself. He wants these relationships to thrive, because, when they do, they reflect the very nature and character of God.