If we are to have good relationships, we need to first understand the purpose of them.  It would be like trying to try to understand how to have good bacon, without understanding its purpose.  It is used for clothing?  For hair styling?  For skin care?  As an antiperspirant?  Or as food?   Or as well all know, as all of the above.

Like bacon, you have to know the purpose of your relationship.  If you’re going to use bacon for hair styling, you’ll cook it totally differently than if you were going to eat it. With your spouse, kids, whoever, you will ‘cook’ your relationship totally differently when you have a different purpose in mind.

Is the purpose of the relationship there to make you happy?  Is it there to make them happy?  For what ultimate purpose are you raising your kids?  Why are you friends with a certain person? So to understand the purpose of relationships, let’s go to the very first human relationship.

GE 2:18 The LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”

A helper for what? God had given Adam a calling.  And he needed help with that God-given calling.  Another person was created to have a relationship with him to help with that God-given calling.

It doesn’t say, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make someone to make him happy and to rub his feet.”

The purpose was God focused – to help Adam fulfill the tasks God had assigned to him.

So now think about, what callings has God given you?  What is your spouse supposed to help out with? What callings has He given your spouse, your kids, your friends?  What is your role in helping them?

God has given all of us a number of callings at one time, but also a number of relationships to help with those callings and also a number of relationships for us to go out and help.

So what do we do?

Take a look at your spouse, kids, other family and ask yourself, “What callings has God given them?” and “How should I mold my relationship with them to help them fulfill that purpose?”

Then set up your life in that manner. Figure out what their callings are, and figure out how you are to help them fulfill their callings. And my calling right now is to eat some bacon. 

So I’m going to ask my spouse to help me with my calling of eating that bacon – right after I’m done styling my hair with it.

1CO 12:14 Now the body is not made up of one part but of many. [15] If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. [16] And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. [17] If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? [18] But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. [19] If they were all one part, where would the body be? [20] As it is, there are many parts, but one body. 1CO 12:21 The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!”

Take Time To Pray: Ask God to help you understand your callings and the callings of those you have relationships with so you can properly minister to them. Today’s fruit of the spirit: Faithfulness. (Special thanks to reader Jessica Wesseling for sending in that awesome photo.)