Maximizing Your Potential

Isolation Is Not Good After man had finished naming all the animals and no suitable helper for him was found among them, God performed another significant act of creation. Why? “It is not good for the man to be alone” (Genesis 2:18). God did not make woman because man asked for a wife, nor because a helper for man was a good idea. Man needed a companion because he could not realize his potential without sharing it with someone. His solitary existence was not good. To be solitary or alone is not the same as being single. To be alone is to be isolated and cut off from others. Communication is impossible because you have no one like yourself to share with. This is what God says is not good. To be single is to be unmarried. Marriage is not a requirement or a prerequisite for the fulfillment of your potential. You do not necessarily need a husband or a wife. What you do need, however, is someone with whom you can share your potential. This is true because your personal satisfaction is connected to your fulfilling God’s purpose for your life, and your purpose cannot be achieved in isolation. You need those people who will call forth your potential and into whom you can pour your life. You may be wired to be single, but you are not designed to live isolated and alone. You need someone with whom you can share your potential. A Word of Caution You must be careful, however, when, how, and with whom you share your potential. Even as isolation is not good for personal fulfillment and the maximizing of potential, so sharing your hidden wealth in a manner that transgresses God’s laws of limitation is not good. All your natural abilities, all the gifts you have cultivated, and all the knowledge you have accumulated are yours to share within the context of God’s principles, plans, and purposes. God created everything to fulfill its potential within the limitations of certain laws . In other words, He specified the boundaries within which all things can perform to their maximum capabilities. For example, God created you to serve only Him. The context of living in an obedient relationship with Him is the only means of ensuring your happiness and fulfillment. Therefore, God commands you: You shall have no other gods before Me. You shall not make for yourself an idol.... You shall not bow down to them or worship them (Exodus 20:3-5a). His command seeks to safeguard your ideal environment because He knows that you cannot satisfy your spiritual potential if you worship or bow down to something or someone else.