What is normal?

We often hear the question "what is normal?" That question seems to get increasingly louder with time. Is there even such a thing as normal?

Though there is no direct definition of "normal" given in the Bible, who we are and why we exist is clearly laid out. Since we, as a culture, have abandoned the source of what or who defines us and all things, we have lost sight of this.

To determine what normal is we must first recognize we do not define it. If there is a Creator/Designer of us and all things, - which means things are a certain way because they are designed to be a certain way - God must define this.

So what exactly is it?

Normal is operating according to our design — as opposed to operating merely by our desires i.e. an "if it feels good do it" approach to life. In an "if it feels good..." approach, feelings, and desires trump design. 

If we are indeed designed to operate in a particular manner, to go contrary to this is contrary to how we function best, no matter how much we may feel otherwise. The old saying "if it feels good, do it"  often proves out to be a formula for disaster, not lasting fulfillment or meaning. There are no examples of true fulfillment long term in letting our desires dictate our choices. 

By definition -- as well as in reality -- anything that operates contrary to its design will not operate well and depending on how far adrift of that design, it could eventually break down and stop operating altogether. This is the basic nature of what it means to be designed.

And what is that design? 

We are created like God. 

But what is God like? 

He is love.

How and why is he love? 

Because he is a being of relationship between three persons; Father, Son, and Spirit. He gives and receives love, honor, and value from within and among those persons. God is love because he is relationship.

Why were we created?

·      So we too could be in a relationship with him, receiving love, honor, and value (glory) from God and giving it back to him in the same way (like) he does within the persons of Father, Son, and Spirit. To say it more precisely, we were created so we could be brought into and take part in (be partakers of) the giving and receiving of love, honor, and glory between the Father, Son, and Spirit. In order for us to do so, we had to be made as much like God as possible without being God. What does this look like?

·      We were also entrusted to oversee (have dominion over) and *care for the other things he created.

·      We are also like God in our ability to create and then to oversee and *care for the things we created. 

·      Lastly, we display what God is like by being fruitful, multiplying i.e. bringing life into the world and extending his love and glory to others.

However, we can not fully understand the "why" of our creation unless and until we understand that all the above has been severely marred. 

We still have the capacity for all the above -- and to a limited and distorted degree still display these attributes -- but we have also rebelled from this original design because we believe(d) we can (could) gain our own sense of love, honor, and value apart from God the source of these things. In short, we believe(d) the lie that we can (could) be our own god and we now pursue a course based on what we think is best, not on what our designer knows is best.

*genuine care (love) for something or someone other than ourselves can only occur when we first are fully participating in and experiencing the care (love) of our Creator. When we do not -- due to cutting ourselves off from him and his design through distrust/unbelief -- we use created things to care for ourselves instead of caring for creation out of honor for our Creator.

To recap... normal is being like God. How?

·      Being in a relationship of love with God, receiving and participating in (be partakers of) love, and giving love to him and others in response, as he does among Father, Son, and Spirit.

·      Overseeing and caring for the rest of his creation as stewards. We are God's partner and the overseer of all things for His glory and ours.

·       Using his creation to recreate, through which we bring honor and glory to him by demonstrating his creativity and beauty as the ultimate Creator of all things.

·      Being fruitful and multiplying, - i.e. by bringing forth other image-bearers - through which the whole earth is potentially filled with his love and glory, just as God was fruitful and multiplied his love by extending it to his first image-bearers, Adam and Eve.