Set Apart: "Commun"-ication by Candace Lostroh

Why did Adam and Eve eat from the forbidden tree in the garden? What was is it that they wanted? Did they really believe that God was holding out on them like the serpent would lead them to believe? He shared with them that they were missing out on being like God, having His knowledge and knowing good and evil. 

But were they really missing out? Weren't they already "like God?"

Genesis 1:27 states, "So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them."

Adam and Eve were already like God. They were clothed in His full Glory! They had all authority and dominion given to them by God to rule the earth. Nothing was held back from them, all that God had and possessed He gave to them. The very next verse in Genesis 1:28 says, "Then God blessed them, and said to them, 'Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.'"

They had power to name the animals and they didn't just give the animal a name, in Hebrew a name carries the true meaning of what that animal was. So when Adam named the lion, he was calling out the lion's purpose through it's name. It's purpose to roar, to hunt, to do everything a lion does. 

The greatest part of all of this is that Adam and Eve were able to commune with God at all times. There was no shame or guilt before the Fall. There were no walls that were built around their hearts from past hurts. Up unto this point they had only known true joy and happiness in getting to experience the full presence of God himself. God made them highly intelligent beings just like him. They weren't some dumb cavemen, they were holding deep and meaningful conversations with the Creator of the Universe. Can you even imagine? I'm sure God was showing them how he placed the stars in the heavens, how he made the designs in the constellations and how he stopped the waters on the earth with just his hands. God was and still is in the show and tell business. That's why he gave us his Word and let his Son become our Savior so that he could restore this same communication like he had in the Garden with Adam and Eve.

I bring all of this up because the Devil has not changed his message. Yes, he may change up how he brings it about, his methods, but the true message of his deception has not changed and that is that God is holding out on us. He doesn't want us to have fun. He wants us to remain brainless, go through the motions, bow down and worship every day for the rest of our miserable lives. If he was truly a good and loving God he would make this world perfect. Nothing would go wrong, bad things wouldn't happen and all of us would be rich, healthy and happy. You see if he can keep us in this thinking that only if we'll keep practicing our "religion" of showing up and doing all the things we keep doing because maybe just maybe God will give us some blessings, we miss what God has already given us....and that's his Son, Jesus and what his work on the cross did for all mankind.

Okay, so you may have read this far thinking, "Okay, I thought we were going to talk about pure dating relationships in this Set Apart series? When are we going to get to that part?"

Well, I say all of this because when Adam and Eve chose to listen to the Serpent over listening to God they traded masters. They traded a good and loving God for a vicious, murdering, accusing, lying thief. They traded intimacy for hearsay. They traded uninhibited communication with God for confusion, gossip and sloppy seconds. To be really raw and unfiltered; they got in bed with the enemy instead of holding out for their fairy tale. Satan not only took the keys to this world right out of their hands but he placed shackles on their hands and feet and they became his slaves.

But God knew the end from the beginning. He had a plan from the start. A course of action to redeem, restore and set back into place everything that had been stolen from him and that included the hearts of his people. And that plan was called...JESUS. God threw off his power, his crown, his righteousness to become human. To enter into our physical world. To experience all of the same situations that we experience. Rejection, defamation of character, betrayal, sadness, joy, mourning, compassion, abuse and temptation to sin. And through it all he chose love over hate. When he died on the cross he broke the curse that came upon all of creation at the time of the Fall. This opened the door and tore the veil down for his children to step again into his presence and to have intimacy with him again. True intimacy, not the world's perversion of intimacy. Jesus restored intimacy with us again because this is favorite form of communication. We draw near to him and he draws near to us just as what James 4:8 states.

So with this, I bring up sex. God gave Adam and Eve sex because it was the ultimate culmination of intimacy. But just like the Devil always does, he took something pure and good and twisted it around to cause confusion and bring shame. He took the intimacy out of the act of sex and with that humans came into bondage. We would become addicted and in a sense worship the act when it was never meant to be worshiped. In it's original form sex was after covenant (Genesis 1:24). It meant communion between husband and wife. If anyone is going to stay pure until marriage, you have to have the correct view of what sex is. I really do believe the church has done a terrible job at this. Sex education should not be left up to the secular schools to teach, it should be taught in the pulpit. God created sex, so why is it so taboo?

COMMUNICATION!! This is what I'm trying to get across. When we don't bring to light God's truth it gets twisted and confused by the Devil. 

Parents, when you don't teach your kids what sex truly is and how God created it to be in the first place we learn from our friends and from a deceptive world. Church, when you choose to condemn instead of bring to light God's heart on sex you turn your children away to go find their information from another source outside of the Bible. If you're waiting until marriage to have sex the person you're dating or courting needs to know where you stand sooner rather than later. Communication is part of being a mature adult and it will help you so much when you are navigating your life. God is calling all of us to wait until we enter into covenant with our spouse to have sex because before that, lines get blurred and communication gets clouded. Not only between each other but with God as well. When Adam and Eve sinned they hid themselves behind fig leaves because of shame. God came calling for them and realized what they had done. This broke God's heart because it ended that sweet and intimate relationship he had with his creation. 

So my friend, as I bring this long-winded blog post to the end, I want you to know that you are a child of a loving God. He wants his best for you. Not to hold out on you, not to let you have no fun or enjoy life, but because he knows how good it can be when we trust in him and wait until marriage to have sex. In this time of waiting he will grow us, prepare us, and speak to our heart's deepest desires. And when he brings that promised person into your life you will know that all of it was worth the wait. Even if you have caved and had sex before marriage God has not forgotten you. You are not dirty to him, but he does want your contrite heart. Repent, ask for forgiveness and he promises to make you new again.