The Two Gardens — A LifeWords Devotion - Hope 103.2

The Two Gardens — A LifeWords Devotion

The destiny of humankind has been shaped in two gardens.

By David ReayMonday 13 Dec 2021LifeWords DevotionalsDevotionsReading Time: 2 minutes

Here it is in a nutshell: Just as one person did it wrong and got us in all this trouble with sin and death, another person did it right and got us out of it. But more than just getting us out of trouble, he got us into life! One man said no to God and put many people in the wrong; one man said yes to God and put many in the right. (THE MESSAGE)

The destiny of humankind has been shaped in two gardens. Back at the beginning of creation, the first human beings decided that God’s way did not suit them. They heeded the seductive suggestions of the tempter that God did not know best and did not have their interests at heart. So they declared independence.

And ever since, we humans have done much the same thing. And ever since, we are destined to die and remain estranged from God both in life and in death. Events in the Garden of Eden determined our destiny.

But God didn’t want to leave it at that. Jesus came to end that estrangement and bear the weight and guilt of our wrongdoing. He was tempted to not do that very thing. He was tempted to become a popular, inoffensive Messiah. But he resisted. And in the Garden of Gethsemane, he faced the ultimate temptation: to resist the cross and all that it entailed.

He took the hard way, he resisted the lies of the evil one, he recognised God’s way was best, costly as it was. In the Garden of Gethsemane, he did what the first human beings did not do in the Garden of Eden. He stayed true to God. And in doing so, he changed our destiny. He offered life with God, mercy and forgiveness.

What was done in Eden was undone in Gethsemane.

Blessings,

David

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