Garden of Eden, Place of Protected Pleasure

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I've been doing a lot of studying lately on various topics. Somehow I keep getting drawn to Genesis and the Garden of Eden. The events which took place in the garden still affect mankind today. Good and evil, believe it, or don't believe it, are still affecting us. We will feel the effects of what took place in Eden tomorrow, next week, next year, till we take our last breath.

Back to the Garden of Eden

It's not so much what took place there that leads me to write this article. It's the biblical meaning of the words garden and Eden and how these meanings can be applied to us today.

• garden: from the Hebrew gan meaning garden (as fenced). The word comes from a primitive Hebrew root meaning to hedge about or protect.
• Eden: the name Eden is from a Hebrew word which means pleasure or delight.

We can thus say the Garden of Eden was a protected place of pleasure. The inhabitants of the garden lived in perfection in a place of perfect, protected pleasure. Sounds idyllic doesn't it?

From the Garden of Eden to Unprotected Displeasure

I won't recount the story of the fall in the Garden of Eden. I won't get into the how and the why of it. The fall happened and we must deal with its effects every day of our lives. We experience pain, sorrow, anxiety, stress, fear. We are surrounded by violence, terror, natural disaster, and evil.

The idea of a protected place of pleasure seems far-fetched at best. We think of it. We dream of it. Yet our personal Eden seems to slip further away with each moment. It doesn't have to. Really.

No, all of the problems of this life will not go away. Yes, we will still experience anxious moments, bow under the weight of stress, and fear for our tomorrows. But what if I tell you there is a way to get back into that perfect protected place of pleasure? Are you interested?

Back to the Garden of Eden, the Place of Protected Pleasure

The ancient prophet of Israel, Isaiah says it like this: "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee (Isaiah 26:3)."

Matthew Henry defines the perfect peace of Isaiah 26:3 as "inward peace, outward peace, peace with God, peace of conscience, peace at all times, under all events."

Are you starting to get a picture of the Garden of Eden, a place of protected pleasure? We may not achieve such a physical place in this life yet, at the same time, it is still attainable. How?

Jesus says: "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you (John 4:27)." Jesus Christ, through his death on the cross of Calvary (see Colossians 1:20), gives us the place of protected pleasure. He fulfills Isaiah 26:3 perfectly.

Jesus speaks of the Comforter, the Holy Spirit (John 4:16) who would come in the name of Jesus (John 4:26). Do you ever wonder why Jesus calls the Holy Spirit the Comforter?

It is this Comforter by taking up residence in you which gives you access to the peace given by Christ Jesus. Anybody wish to question the concept of comfort bringing peace? You do have access to the place of perfect protected pleasure, your personal Garden of Eden, through the indwelling Holy Spirit.

You can access your place of protected pleasure as much as you want, whenever you want. Repent. Make a conscious decision you wish to change your life by turning away from sin. Be baptized in the name of Jesus for the remission of, the washing away of your sin. Receive the gift of the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, the source of everlasting access to your personal Garden of Eden.

One Big Thing by Phil Cooke

Is there a purpose for your life? A specific goal you wish to accomplish? Are you a fresh college graduate looking for purpose? Maybe you're like me, middle-aged, beaten and tired from chasing illusion after illusion.

It's the title of this book, One Big Thing, Discovering What You Were Born to Do which catches my attention. Author Phil Cooke offers wisdom and practical guidance to those seeking the answer to the questions, "Why am I here?" and "What am I supposed to be doing?"

The Message Behind One Big Thing

There is a nagging sensation within each of us leading us to question why we are here and to what we are to be doing with our time here. What One Big Thing, Discovering What You Were Born to Do will not do is answer those questions! You and only you can answer them.

What author Phil Cooke does do in this book is point you, the reader in the direction you need to go to discover the answers. He closes the introduction to the book with some questions:

• What is it that makes you come alive?
• What excites and empowers you?
• What were you born to do?
• How can you get that message out there?

And, in the final sentence of the introduction, "Let's go find some answers."

Discovering the Answers to Your One Big Thing

What! I thought we were finding answers! We are. You will. I love the format Phil Cooke uses throughout the book. He asks questions, lots of questions. Chapter 8 lays out the map for your future. How? With more questions!

• What comes easy to you?
• Do other people confirm it?
• What do you love?
• What are you willing to risk?
• What drives you crazy?
• What do you want to leave behind?

The author laces the book with quotes which reinforce the questions pointing you to think about your answers. You will begin to visualize your one big thing as you begin to seriously think about and answer the questions.

Again, I love the format of question upon probing question the author uses in One Big Thing, Discovering What You Were Born to Do. Phil Cooke shares from his wealth of experience in asking you, the reader the right questions to provoke you to think and think deep.

This was a book I read in two sittings. Each chapter, each question led me to the next question, to the next chapter. I was led to reflect on my past experiences, my present situations, all of it through the questions asked of me in this book.

You're Not Crazy

You're Not Crazy is the title of the epilogue of One Big Thing, Discovering What You Were Born to Do. The sensation that I am crazy for following my one big thing is indeed real. Yours may be too. But how will you ever know if you don't follow your one big thing?

This book will not tell you your one big thing. But if you are desiring to find it, then I recommend reading this book by Phil Cooke highly. Now, I am off to work on my one big thing!

I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."

What! Is God Too Safe?

What is it you and I say of the Lord God? "He is my refuge and my fortress; my God, in Him I will trust (Psalms 91:2)?" We are safe in God, but how safe is our God? Is your God too safe? Think about it for a minute or two, then read on.

Pastor, freelance writer and author, Mark Buchanan provides a look into the answer of this question in his book Your God Is Too Safe, Rediscovering the Wonder of a God You Can't Control.

WHAT! HOW CAN GOD BE TOO SAFE?

Your God Is Too Safe opens with a chapter entitled The Refuge of the Stuck. It's about Borderland, the place between two borders and why we may choose to be stuck there. Borderland is familiar. It's safe.

Mark Buchanan wastes no time in going after this concept of a God who is too safe. Over and over he exposes our comfortable ideas and concepts of who and what God is in the light of Scripture.

The writing of Your God Is Too Safe is engaging and easy to read. The material the author presents is designed to make you think and react to who and what you believe God is and desires for you.

ARE YOU LIVING IN BORDERLAND?

"Who is the god of borderland?" Mark Buchanan asks. He answers with, "the god who is too safe." It didn't take me long into the book to realize I have spent a large part of my life living in borderland. Chapter after chapter, case after case, the author lays out clearly how we get stuck in borderland and often why we choose to remain there.

Part Two of Your God Is Too Safe opens with a chapter called The Place of Holy Habits. The case is made for the absolute necessity of prayer becoming a holy habit. I found myself under conviction for my own lack of a holy habit of prayer.

Your God Is Too Safe was a little slow getting into, though once into it, the intensity increased dramatically. I read all of Part Two, Life In the Holy Wild, without putting the book down!

I found myself challenged to seek God for who He is and for what He is. I found myself hungry to step out beyond borderland into the holy wild. One quote from Your God Is Too Safe I will always remember is this: "Consumption is killing us. Go fast and live." Again, think about it.

GETTING OUT OF BORDERLAND

If you're stuck in a rut, bored with your life in Christ, Your God Is Too Safe is a good book to jog and jab you out of your comfort zone. I recommend this book to any desiring the expectancy of walking with Christ, looking to escape from borderland.