In the book of Genesis, Chapter 2 and verse 15, we read from the Amplified Bible: “So the LORD God took the man [He had made] and settled him in the Garden of Eden to cultivate and keep it.” Think about this, and ask yourself – why was the man not put in a cave, or in a cage, or at the bottom of a hole? In this act of placing the man in a garden to cultivate and keep and eat from the trees, God is sharing!
Later on when Adam and Eve were sent packing out of the garden, Genesis Chapter 3 and verse 17, from the Amplified Bible says: “Then to Adam the LORD God said, “Because you have listened [attentively] to the voice of your wife, and have eaten [fruit] from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat of it’; The ground is [now] under a curse because of you; In sorrow and toil you shall eat [the fruit] of it All the days of your life.”
Even when Adam was sent out of the garden of Eden, God said “In sorrow and toil YOU SHALL EAT… from the ground”. Even when Adam and Eve sinned, they were not denied the material provision to survive. Genesis Chapter 8 and verse 22 from the Amplified Bible states this very clearly: “While the earth remains, Seedtime and harvest, Cold and heat, Winter and summer, And day and night Shall not cease.”
God created humanity and shared his goodness with us; God used his abilities, gifts, skills, and talents, to create, to provide, and to invest in humanity. We are taught from the Bible that God created humanity in his image; if God shares from what he has, we too should share from what we have. We should share our gifts, and skills, and talents, and wealth – in sharing we are doing God’s work!
We all have a gift, a skill, a talent, a resource from which we can share and be a blessing; in 2023 be blessed and be a blessing, Amen!
Jesus, our redeemer, healing the world... 