It never ceases to amaze me that the sinful human nature that all humans possess has a way of blinding us to reality. One of the biggest problems that leads us to sin is selfishness. Most Christians spend more time watching TV or movies, playing games and doing things to bring pleasure and comfort to themselves than they do reading the word, praying and witnessing. We are so consumed with making ourselves better, buying more, weighing less, fulfilling each one of our pleasures that we often do not stop to think about anyone or anything else outside of ourselves. This is sad indeed, especially since I find myself doing the same. A big problem is that this crafty sinful nature sometimes sneaks its way into our theology and how we view the Bible.
This was something that God brought to my attention this morning as I taught my Sunday School class. I have been using the Lifeway material that our Church provides, and it is possible that you have studied the same lesson if your church uses the same material. Anyway the lesson was on Genesis, more specifically on Adam and the Garden of Eden. We see Eden as the perfect paradise. The Garden of Eden was a place where God walked and Adam had the privilege of being in the very presence of God. It was also a place of no sorrow and no pain and no tears, a place where plants and animals grew and lived abundantly. God created it, he inspected it, and he said it was �very good.� The Garden of Eden was paradise, it was a perfect place designed by God for Adam to dwell.
After discussing this with my class I asked the question, “How would you describe paradise”� They gave me answers such as, “It is a place where we have everything that we ever wanted. It is a place that we can eat what we want and just sit around and enjoy all day. It is a place where there is no pain and tears so we can just sit back and be happy all the time.” Notice the common theme in the answers they gave? Me. Me. Me. You see the place they described as paradise, was a place that pleased their earthly desires. They described it as a place where they didn’t have to work, where they could just sit back and relax, a place where they could have whatever they wanted and do whatever they wanted. Sounds a bit selfish�
That is the perfect example of how our sinful nature gets in the way of how we interpret scripture sometimes. They said that it was a place they never had to work and yet in paradise Adam worked. He was in charge of the animals, he had to name them, he also had to work the fields. So there were things that Adam had to do. There were also rules in paradise. Adam could eat from any tree except for one. It wasn’t some “free for all” that he could do anything he wanted, he had rules and consequences to breaking those rules. The theme of their answers was please me, please me, when the truth is paradise is a place where our theme will be please God, please God. In all things God gets the glory and our joy and pleasure comes not from serving ourselves, but from serving God. Don’t let your human nature stand in the way of what the Bible actually says.
