October 16

Plant!

Now the Lord God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed. The Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground—trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  ––Genesis 2:8-9

Imagine what it must have been like for Adam before the Fall. We know that God created Adam in His image, and that while his body wasn’t indestructible (he was made from dust, after all), Adam did have conditional access to eternal life. As long as he obeyed God, he would not die. We also know that God brought Adam into the creative process in the Garden. God could have named all the animals Himself, but instead allowed Adam to do it. (For the most part, I think Adam did a pretty good job. I mean, “giraffe” is a goofy name that perfectly fits its namesake.) Can you imagine being in an Edenic titling meeting with God, just the two of you? Wild stuff.

Before Adam sinned, he had an intimate relationship with God with no separation, no corruption, and no sin. Adam was a co-worker with God in the Garden—sharing responsibility and authority over the created world. Sometimes we spend so much time focused on the Fall and its consequences that we forget that there was life in the Garden before that infamous apple—and it was perfect for Adam. I love what Genesis 2 says: “Now the Lord God had planted a garden …” Notice it doesn’t say God created or called into being the Garden. He planted it, using His creativity to painstakingly choose the plants, create them, and plant them. The point is this: We serve a creative God who loves and values beauty. And Adam had full access to God and His creativity before the Fall.

Man of God, we serve the same God today that Adam walked with in the Garden before sin entered the world. A creative, intimate, fertile, loving God who craves connection with us, His most beloved creation. While the rest of what He created was “good,” Adam and Eve He called “very good” (Genesis 1:31).

We get fixated on the Fall because that is why Jesus came to Earth: Because of “First Adam’s” sin, we needed a Second Adam—Jesus—to cancel out the sins of the First Adam. However, through Jesus, we’ve been spiritually restored to a pre-Fall position; our spirit has the opportunity to live forever with God in undiluted intimacy and relationship.

Man of God, Satan’s goal in the Garden was to drive a wedge between the relationship that Adam and Eve shared with God. He used shame as his prybar to open that pernicious gap, and in so doing, disconnection, sin, and shame poured through. These dark days in which we live—with senseless murders, assassinations, and wars—need men of God who rebuke the enemy and his shame-thrower, and instead clothe themselves in the righteousness of Jesus. How can we become all that God intended for us if we are living out of the enemy’s playbook? It’s time to burn the pages of your past in God’s cleansing fire, and embrace your position as a set-free, beloved son of God who longs to co-labor with you.

Father, I crave deep connection and intimacy with You, and today I rebuke Satan and his schemes. I don’t need to buy into the lies of shame and condemnation, and instead I fully embrace my position in Christ.