Mission Before Mate
Reading Time: 6 minutes
The Lord God placed the man in the Garden of Eden to tend and watch over it. But the Lord God warned him, “You may freely eat the fruit of every tree in the garden— except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If you eat its fruit, you are sure to die.” Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper who is just right for him.”
Genesis 2:15-18
While creating the world, the trinity (God) decides to create man in their image. Adam, the first man, has all the produce, water, and shelter he could need. God has made a garden that the Bible says cultivated itself without the need for humans and Adam's job is to be its steward. Adam is called to live in a perfect situation under the provision and work of God. It’s a perpetual life of rest because God did and would do all the heavy lifting. It’s a pretty cool job, but God warns Adam of the dangers of this cushy, new gig. He has free reign to enjoy all the fruit and trees of the garden except for one: the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. In order to make sure this is not a prison, but a garden of freely chosen love, there has to be a way to choose not to be under God's paradise of peace and prosperity.
Adam lives in a perfect world and has never experienced stress and pain, yet he can if he wants to. It may be alluring to be like God and know all things, but knowing all things means having an intimate experience with the bad, too. God wanted his friends to live in peace forever with Him, but He didn't want to put them through living forever with Him if it meant a life of knowing evil. In order to know all things, you’d have to know pain and God was trying to keep Adam away from that life. So God gave Adam the job of managing a self-sustaining garden, then warned Him of the thing that would mess it up.
Then, God looks around at the situation and says, “It is not good for man to be alone”. Hmm. This is the first time in the Bible that God says something isn't good. After God makes the perfect situation, gives Adam a mission, and warns him of what to watch out for, He then brings up the idea of a teammate. God doesn’t make Eve because Adam needs someone else to validate him, wants to look good next to someone, or feels lonely. God sends Eve as a helper—after Adam has a job and a life purpose to follow.
A lot of times, this purpose talk is confusing, especially in church. While God may call you to specific fields or avenues, agreeing to be a Christian means your purpose is to worship God with your life. Worship is about presenting your God-given experience, body, insight, and net worth back to God.
All throughout the Bible, God brings help to people for the purpose of aiding the calling He has on their lives. When Moses is afraid to lead the Israelites out of Egypt, God sends his brother as a helper. The Bible talks about another helper. Jesus told the disciples, on their mission of growth, that he would leave a helper with them. That helper would guide them into all truth, comfort them, and help them grow and move forward. That helper is the Holy Spirit and the Bible says the Holy Spirit is available to all of us. The Holy Spirit won't just help you on your mission, He will lead you to the people who need to go with you. We need to look at dating as a preparation season to sift out who God may be calling us to walk with. We often date and create different types of relationships with no meaning, but there is no need for a helper if you don't know what you need help doing.
So many relationships are going south because they aren’t equally yoked in mission. I don't mean you have to have the same job. Your occupation and purpose are different; purpose is the what, while occupation is often the how. You may be working as one thing, but that is only a platform to walk in your purpose of being a vessel God can use. Do you and your partner agree on the direction of your lives as a collective?
When the Bible talks about being equally yoked, it refers to animals tasked with plowing a field that are connected to each other with a yoke. In relationships, equally yoked means you are both tasked with helping each other to accomplish your mission(s). You are called to walk this life journey with each other and it’s hard to walk in the same direction when you're tied to someone who doesn’t also want to follow their purpose. Do you have the same values and pillars in life? Are you growing in the same direction?
You may be praying about mates like a lot of my friends are. It’s good to be prayerful. Whether it be friends, business partners, or marriage, I think a lot of times when we think of community, we don’t recognize the meaning of it. In this story, God says, “Let Us make humans in our image”, pointing to the fact that humans are made in the image of community. God the father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are all coeternal persons who were constantly loving and being loved. Out of that we were birthed. We are meant to be creatures of community and love. The first human community was designed to help individuals accomplish a God-given mission and stay away from danger.
We can put ourselves in either Adam or Eve's shoes. Are you someone who needs to find your mission or someone who needs to be united with someone with purpose? Do you really want to walk with someone who isn't going anywhere? Are you ready to be someone else’s helper?
Remember, God will send all you need for the mission He is calling you to. Whatever lofty dreams He’s given you will be provided for. Make time to go to God and find out why He wants you to walk this earth before you ask others to walk with you. Find your mission before your mate.
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