The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.
-Genesis 3:15
This is a pre-fall text. Work is not a result of the fall but rather a part of the garden of Paradise.
In the eastern accounts of creation: The gods don’t work. Work is bad and delegated to the lowly creatures.
In the Genesis Account: Work is good and even God gets His hands dirty.
Then the LORD God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.
-Genesis 2:7
The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.
-Genesis 2:15
Man is also told to get his hands dirty as well.
There is no other philosophy or religion that possesses such a high view of work!
Then God said, 'Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness…'
-Genesis 1:26
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. And the earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep; and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters.
-Genesis 1:1
You and I are told not to create but to rule!!
Then God said, 'Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule...'
-Genesis 1:26
Rule: involves making, shaping, forming out of something pre-existing.
The Creation Account of Genesis demands that you ask yourself three questions:
1. What should I be doing that allows me to image the spirit of God who hovers over the waters?
And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds…
-Hebrews 10:24b
2. How does my work benefit the common good?
The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.
-Genesis 2:15
Don’t just find out what fulfills you. Find the work that the world needs.
3. What is your ultimate mission?
During 1957 I experienced the grace of God, a spiritual awakening that would lead me to a richer, fuller, more productive life. At that time, in gratitude, I humbly asked to be given the means and privilege to make others happy through my music and I feel this has been granted through His grace and I give praise to God.
-John Coltrane
For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
-Ephesians 2:10
What in heaven’s name – on earth – are you doing with your life?
When I realized that God loves me, approves of me, adores me, it was no longer about finding my meaning and purpose but about the music itself and the pleasure I am able to bring into other’s lives.
-John Coltrane
In the midst of your work, you must also find Sabbath rest.
By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work.
-Genesis 2:2
On the cross, God already gave you what it is you are desperately trying to earn through your work and that's why our souls are restless.
There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God.
-Hebrews 4:9
Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.
-Matthew 11:28-30
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