You Are Created For...Sample

When God made Adam's companion, he didn't give him someone exactly the same as him.

From the rib, the Lord God made a woman and brought her to the man. (Genesis 2:22)

Often, we just want to choose the relationships that work for us. If people don't do what I say or what or how I want it, then I walk away. It doesn't work for me - but God didn't give Adam an identical companion. Instead, he gave him a reflection. Interestingly, the Hebrew words "Ezer Kenegdo" used here in the scripture for companion can be translated as a reflection. Fundamentally, a reflection is exactly the same image in reflection, but the reflection is naturally also the opposite of each other. If I wink my right eye, the reflection winks the left eye back at me.

She was like him, but she was different from him. In Genesis 3, we see the disillusionment in a relationship between people who are the opposite of us and think and act differently. There is a disruption in the relationship. And that's why it's important to commit and connect to a relationship.

Why should I make a promise when I get married? Because we know in life that commitment will be tested and challenged by our differences. It takes me to a responsibility towards the other - to choose even when I don't feel like it.

Have you ever looked at the early church in the New Testament? Have you realized how different everyone is? How diverse? Jew and Gentile. Male and female. Old and young. Free and slave. Everyone becomes part of the community. Completely different, but one thing in common - Jesus - and the commitment to follow Him together and do it with each other.

James, Jesus' own brother, must have learned something from Jesus' way of living in relationship with people who were different from him - the disciples, Romans, the sick, scholars, and outcasts. He writes and says:

You can develop a healthy, robust community that lives right with God and enjoy its results only if you do the hard work of getting along with each other. James 3:18 MSG

It's hard work, it's not always easy, and the way I prefer it, but we can't go into a relationship without commitment.