Back to the Garden
Welcome fellow gardeners.
In Genesis 2:15 of the Bible, we read that God created man and placed him in the garden (a place called Eden) to tend and take care of it. In other words, we are all descendants of a gardener. I can honestly say, I have never met a person who did not enjoy a garden to relax in. That garden could take the form of a city park, tree lined city street, a well landscaped back yard, a patio of container plants, a country side of farms and forest, the prestigious beauty of a mountain range, or your grandmother’s vegetable garden, You may not understand why, but in those places of the garden we find a sense of rest and peace, perhaps closer to our Creator.
It actually says in Gen 3:8 that God came looking for Adam in the garden in the cool of the day. But Adam and his wife Eve, did not want to be found. For they had disobeyed God’s instructions: originally there was only one: to not to eat of the tree of “good and evil”. You see, Adam and Eve decided that they wanted to know as much as God knew. God was trying to protect them from a real enemy that would bring death and separation. The enemy was able to entice the first couple in the garden into disobedience. Their disobedience threw them out of the Eden garden with nothing but shame and a covering of fur from an animal God had sacrificed to cover them.
I am sure there wasn’t a day that went by where they did not miss that garden. They longed for that place of protection and provision. Several years later it even cost them one of their own son’s (Abel) life, by the hand of their other son (Cain) Fortunately, that is not the end of the story.
We do not hear much more about the garden until Jesus shows up on the scene. All of a sudden, after thousands of years of history (including a flood, cities destroyed by sin, wars, slavery, and death), He starts telling stories about gardening. Stories of sowing and harvesting, pruning, a vineyard and the vines, planting in different soils, trees that are strong and others that wither and die, fruiting and non- fruiting trees. It is not surprising then, that after His resurrection in the book of John 20:15, Mary Magdalene (who went to see the one who brought her back to a place of rest and peace) finds Him gone from the tomb. She turns around and sees a man that she believes to be another gardener, not knowing it was the master gardener, Jesus Christ. I wonder what brought her to the belief that she was just looking at another gardener. Perhaps his knees where soiled from pulling weeds, or planting some new seeds. Or maybe he had some pruners in his hand – all the same things He talked about during his few years on earth.
Is there a deeper message here? Could it be that Jesus was welcoming mankind back to the garden? Not the garden of Eden, the place we started at, but a much different garden – the garden of peace and rest.
You see, what sent us out of the garden in the first place – disobedience – still takes us out of the garden today. But what the animal skin could not cover, our sin, the blood that was spilled at His crucifixion covers completely. He covers us with His grace that was bought with His blood shed at Mount Golgotha.
So if you’re not in the garden of peace, all you have to do is say you’re sorry about the disobedience, accept Him as your master gardener and later you will probably want to get baptized in water. If you have accepted Jesus, then welcome back to the Garden.
In this garden of peace and rest, you will need an important resource. The best “how to garden in life” book, is still the Bible. There, you will read about weeds (things in our life we need to remove), pests (people who bring us down), planting (sowing the seed of the gospel), harvesting (bringing others into the garden), watering (encouraging others), fertilizing (helping others grow), etc. You will also read about many others who tried to garden and failed miserably, only to be rescued by the master gardener. You’ll read how to recognize good fruit and bad fruits, about how storms in life can make us stronger, and how it is important to be pruned often, to keep from getting a big head.
In tending the garden of peace and rest, plan on getting your knees soiled for the time you’ll want to spend in prayer, you hands dirty from pulling those nasty weeds, (that seem to never end), both of which can be cleaned by the washing of the Word. You will also want to find a garden shed where other gardeners hang out to share ideas on what has worked for them and to learn more about gardening our garden of rest and peace. We also call this place a church.
If you have made a decision to go back to the garden of peace and rest, please let us know by calling 513-939-1100 or click on this link and fill out our information form. We will provide you with resources and encouragement in your new garden adventure.
