CALL TO A LIFE OF IMPACT (6)

“Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it.” – Genesis 2:15

The first man – Adam – was formed and positioned in a God-planted Garden, with a CALL to a LIFE of IMPACT: “Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it” (Gen.2:15). Genesis 1 presents a summarized version of human creation, while this second chapter provides a more detailed version of how man was formed and became a living being: “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being” (v.7). Man was “custom made” not “mass produced.” God, not Man, planted the Garden to be tended and kept: “The Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put the man whom He had formed” (v.8). Every resource that would be required was put in place in this God-planted Garden.

There were trees for visual pleasure and for food; a river flowing out of Eden to water the garden, with four riverheads; and rich natural resources, including Havilah’s gold, Bdellium, and onyx stone (vv.9-14). God positioned His Representative on the Earth in the midst these rich resources. Lack, want, and poverty were alien to this Garden, until Sin crept in through the devil (Gen.3:1). However, the privilege of a luxurious home did not preclude Adam from being accountable and responsible for divine instructions: “And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat...” (vv.16-17a). God’s seemingly restrictive instructions were not punitive; rather, He created a spirit being who’ll freely choose to live with Him.

God created a being who’ll know, serve, love, fellowship with, and worship Him; not coerced or controlled like a robot; a highly intelligent being, responsible for thinking, planning, and cultivating the Garden (v.15). God made a being He could communicate, talk, and share with, by choice (vv.16-17). Man’s needs and drives were to be met both by his environment and by God. His environment provided work, food, comfort, pleasure, and beauty; while God provided instructions, direction, love, fellowship, purpose, meaning, and significance. God wanted the desires and passions of free-willed Man to be focused on Him rather than on creation; hence the prohibition governing the tree.

The Call to a Life of Impact is a call to accountability, responsibility, and compliance with divine directions. God-glorifying Impact does not come through carefree, careless, carnal, or lighthearted living. God’s original design was for Adam to tend, keep, or “work” the ground in Eden, which literally means “to develop” or “to prepare.” Man was to have positive, productive impact on his home and work environments. There was actually no distinction between home and work; both being rich expressions and atmosphere of our Maker’s joyful worship.