Relationship

Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.

God would create a being like never before. It would have the ability to create, experience, to express, to relate, to know

His and her identity would be totally based in their relationship to God

Identity - Who you are; the way you think about yourself, the characteristics that define you

It is important because self-esteem and identity are closely related

Identity has to do with who YOU think you are and how you perceive yourself! Self esteem is how you value yourself, your self worth

Mankind was to find their value in relation to God not each other

Next was to prepare a palace

Gen chapter 2 describes a wonderful place that this relationship would blossom

Genesis 2:8 NKJV

The Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put the man whom He had formed.

The place was full of the expressions of God’s goodness! Streams teaming with life, flowers of vibrant colors, animals of all kinds and varieties.

The word garden here means much more than vegan heaven!

It speaks about an enclosed place of protection in which life and relationship can flurish

We read next that God made provision for them in that place

Genesis 2:9 NKJV

And out of the ground the Lord God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Everything that that they would need was given freely so that they could focus on their relationship with God!

Jeremiah 29:11 NKJV

For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.

It was also within the plan to give man a purpose

Genesis 2:15 NKJV

Then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it.

God placed the maintaining of the relationship in the hands of Adam and Eve. They would have the opportunity to choose

He then set the parameters for the relationship

Genesis 2:16–17 NKJV

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, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

It was here that man choose not to find his identity in God but rather in himself

Satan caused him to “look inward” - your missing something! God is keeping something from you! The reality was that God had laid everything before them including the consequences of not adhering to the parameters of the relationship

And when they tried to find their identity in themselves, paradise was lost!

But God had a plan to restore the relationship

First He choose a place - the cross

Colossians 1:19–20 NKJV

For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross.

The provision

Matthew 26:26–28 NKJV

And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, “Take, eat; this is My body.” Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.

A new Identity

Galatians 6:14 NKJV

But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.

A new Purpose

Mark 16:15 NKJV

And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.

A new parameter

1 John 1:9 NKJV

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

You see God wants to restore the relationship that was lost when Adam and Eve choose to find their identity in something other than Christ!

Let me ask you today - who’s approval are you seeking? Upon what are you basing that approval?

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