Once again we come to so many truths that have come out of these opening chapters. And that’s no less the case here with so many thoughts.
- God rested and made the 7th day holy.
- The earth was watered from a ground canopy of mist perhaps but not rain
- He gave the man breath which is the only part of man that is not created.
- There were two trees in the garden — Tree of life and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and evl
- It was not good for man to be alone.
- A dog wasn’t a suitable helper for man. He made for him a woman that was more similar to him
- It is the man who sacrifices and leaves his family to go to her, not the opposite
- They became one flesh
- They did not know shame
There are so many thoughts that race through my mind when I think on these.
I think of the women I know throughout the world in some places who are treated like dogs. But if a dog was enough for a man, God would have given him a dog. And God bless the men in this world who rescue women who are treated like this and lead a different way. They are the heroes of the women.
I think of a story I heard recently that said that since the woman was the helper to man, then she should be all about him and deny who she was made to be, because it isn’t about her. It’s about him. And yet I read here that he was the first one directed or implied to make the first sacrifice of leaving his family and going to her. There’s more to the story.
But perhaps what I think on mostly these days that is more convicting is the two trees. We don’t think of them often, but we certainly life them.
One tree was about life.
The other tree was about doing what was right and what was wrong.
One tree was all about life.
The other tree lead to death.
For me we all have much sin in our lives. It’s part of the human condition. At the same time I am appalled at the lack of desire among God’s people to live Biblically. I am appalled at how it is without conscience that Christians live together and it’s no big deal. And this isn’t just the young people. Or that there is an adoption of culture when it comes to life in the womb or gender preferences or gender identity. The values of the world take greater precedence then that of the Word.
I’m not talking about non-Christian’s. We wouldn’t expect them to model Christ-like behavior. I’m talking about Christians, and how they live.
At the same time I have to be careful. Am I eating of the tree of right and wrong? Good and bad? Or the tree of life.
The tree of life is the tree of grace, it is the tree of pursuing loving one another, it is the tree of freedom. It doesn’t men that sin isn’t a problem. It is. In fact most of the Bible was written for God’s people and the call to repentance rings deafeningly loud throughout Scripture.
But it does mean that judgment, condemnation and pride is appropriate. It’s hard to fight these in our hearts when we recognize them.
How do we hold this tension together? Pursuit peace, life, love faith and righteousness and at the same time not taking sin in the church as acceptable and not our problem? Sin is contagious because it is so pleasurable.
