Daily Devotionals

Mix Tape Week 4 Monday

This explains why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one. Genesis 2:24

If you did not have a chance to watch any of the summer Olympic competitions this year, you certainly missed out! I loved watching the best of the best athletes in their field compete. As much as I admired their talent and drive, what stood out to me the most as I watched so many competitions was the teamwork each Olympian showed as they competed alongside their teammates. Whether cheering their teammate on or competing in a competition together, I was moved as I watched these athletes work together and encourage each other. In these moments, it was as if they were performing and cheering as one. The truth is, when we work together as a team, we are stronger and, honestly, better. We were not meant to live life alone. We were meant to live life together. This is one of the reasons Scripture teaches that God created marriage. We are not meant to live life alone, and as good teammates remind us, marriage is not about two individuals. It is about two individuals working together as a team for the same purpose: honoring God. Understanding this will drastically change our marriages for the better.

We read all about the importance of unity in Scripture, including marriage relationships and relationships throughout the body of Christ. The first place we read about unity in marriage relationships is in Genesis 2. The author of Genesis wrote about the first two people ever created who were also husband and wife: Adam and Eve. When Adam, who was first created, spent time exploring the animals God had created, it became clear that no one was like him. He was alone. Enter Eve. After Eve was created, Adam celebrated that finally there was someone like him (verse 23). After this moment in Genesis 2, the author of Genesis commented about unity in marriage. He wrote, “This explains why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one” (verse 24). Rather than living for themselves, this verse explains that husbands and wives are to live as one. The more we read and study Scripture, we read that followers of Christ are also to live unified as one (1 Corinthians 1:10-12). 

When you and I partner with our spouses or loved ones and work together as one unified body of Christ, we accomplish more than we could on our own. This is because a body is meant to work together. For example, my arm and my leg are not fighting against each other. Instead, they are working together as one unified body. This unity is what we are called to in the body of Christ, especially in our marriages. So let’s be people who, out of our love for our spouses, family members, and friends, work together in unity for the same purpose: glorifying Christ and demonstrating His love to the world.

Moving Toward Action

Unity is critical in all of our relationships. Spend a few minutes thinking about why unity matters. How are you specifically fighting for unity in your relationships? If you are married, take some time to clarify your mission with your spouse today. Make a mission statement for your marriage that explains how you and your spouse will work together to help serve the body of Christ. If you are single, take some time to think about your giftings. How can you use your gifts to serve the body of Christ for the glory of God? 

Going Deeper

Genesis 2:1-25 (NLT)

So the creation of the heavens and the earth and everything in them was completed. On the seventh day God had finished his work of creation, so he rested from all his work. And God blessed the seventh day and declared it holy, because it was the day when he rested from all his work of creation.

This is the account of the creation of the heavens and the earth.

When the Lord God made the earth and the heavens, neither wild plants nor grains were growing on the earth. For the Lord God had not yet sent rain to water the earth, and there were no people to cultivate the soil. Instead, springs came up from the ground and watered all the land. Then the Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground. He breathed the breath of life into the man’s nostrils, and the man became a living person.

Then the Lord God planted a garden in Eden in the east, and there he placed the man he had made. The Lord God made all sorts of trees grow up from the ground—trees that were beautiful and that produced delicious fruit. In the middle of the garden he placed the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

A river flowed from the land of Eden, watering the garden and then dividing into four branches. The first branch, called the Pishon, flowed around the entire land of Havilah, where gold is found. The gold of that land is exceptionally pure; aromatic resin and onyx stone are also found there. The second branch, called the Gihon, flowed around the entire land of Cush. The third branch, called the Tigris, flowed east of the land of Asshur. The fourth branch is called the Euphrates.

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.” So the Lord God formed from the ground all the wild animals and all the birds of the sky. He brought them to the man to see what he would call them, and the man chose a name for each one. He gave names to all the livestock, all the birds of the sky, and all the wild animals. But still there was no helper just right for him.

So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep. While the man slept, the Lord God took out one of the man’s ribs and closed up the opening. Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib, and he brought her to the man.

“At last!” the man exclaimed.

“This one is bone from my bone,

and flesh from my flesh!

She will be called ‘woman,’

because she was taken from ‘man.’ ”

This explains why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one.

Now the man and his wife were both naked, but they felt no shame.