"Remember the Garden"

  It started with stirring of desires by words intended to stir. "For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." (Gen. 3:5) They ate. A rejection of God's word and a desire to be like God. The result? Uncertainty and fear! This word of the Lord was to help man, keep man on the proper path but it was used against man and death (separation) was the result. This was an act of treachery against God. The very weapon God armed man to use for his good was used to slay! Paul spoke of this same idea in Rom. 7:10-13 of sin using the commandment of God to kill him.

  Not only was there the death that occurred between man and God, from that day man tried to cover their shame and guilt. Man began trying to find someone to blame other than meet God face to face. Has anything changed today? Where there had been joy in the relationship with God, there was fear and heartache. Where there was an intimate walking with God, there was division and shame. Man's unwillingness to listen to God cursed all of creation! Since the death of man had taken place, God sent man back into the world which man was responsible for creating. A world full of thorns, thistles, hardships and the ultimate, man would go back to the dust he was created from.

  From this beginning God took charge to end the death of man, the division and shame. While God's righteous judgment must fall upon man, while sin must be treated with the utmost seriousness, God began His work of the redemption for man. We see it begin by God providing coverings for man as one of the first things. (Gen. 3:21) The same of Christ Jesus. Our Lord gave His life to become the clothing of sinners whose shame needs to be covered (Gal. 3:26-27).

  To this day, we have before us a reminder by seeing the curse this creation has been placed under. It reminds man the loss of glory. It points us back to God to seek His redeeming love through Christ Jesus. Every time you come into shame because of your sins, remember where it started. Every  time you stick your finger with a thorn or weeds must be pulled from your garden, think of the consequences that sin brought into our lives. Every time you feel like hiding because of some disapproved act you and you alone performed, remember the garden. Every funeral you attend remember where it began. But also remember no matter how you feel about the sin(s) you have committed there is a God who seeks you in your shameful hiding place. Not to do you harm, but offer you a covering and restore the relationship through His Son, Jesus Christ the righteous.