“Don’t it always seem to go, that you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone. They paved paradise and put up a parking lot.” These are the words to a catchy little tune that rings of the painful irony of loss and regret.
Have you ever had to live with regret? Have you ever said or done something that you wished with all your might that you could unsay or undo? Have you ever turned your Paradise into a parking lot and then thought, “my god, what have I done?”
I think we have all been there.
Some regrets have steeper consequences than others. An abandoned marriage or a terminated pregnancy will generate a different degree of remorse than let’s say, spending too much on the shoes or having the spicy chili for lunch. A broken confidence or betrayed trust is harder to earn back than carelessly spent rent money. Tums does nothing to reduce the acid of a soured relationship.
Sometimes we think we want something until we actually have it. Sometimes we don’t value what we have… until we don’t.
Our own fickle hearts will deal us a hand we don’t necessarily want to play; sometimes demanding an ante we can’t afford to pay.
Just ask Adam.
Talk about a guy having to live with a heap of regret. All the bounty and favor he was granted in his Paradise was eclipsed by the one thing he was forbidden. In one act of doubt and desire, the whole course of human history was forever altered.
Adam did something that he could not undo; he lost something he could never get back.
Before we can adequately understand and appreciate the full gospel message- the good news of what Jesus Christ came to regain and restore on our behalf, we have to first comprehend all of what Adam had… and lost.
Now I am just going to tell you right up front that this study in the Word is not something that can be dished out in a few easy paragraphs. Generally, I try to keep my posts short-ish and easy to digest, but sometimes learning deep biblical truth requires more of a mental commitment than what our usual spoon size attention spans can handle in one sitting. My intention is to deliver this study out in a series of smaller portions, and I think that if you stick with me all the way through you will be amazed and thoroughly satisfied!
Now, right here I am going to invite you to go fetch your bible and read for yourselves the first three chapters of Genesis. They are not long, and it should take you all of 15 minutes to read. But keep your bookmark there because we are going to be camping out here for a while.
The first three chapters of Genesis tell the story of a Paradise that was created and then tragically lost. If ever you were a child in any Sunday school class ever in your LIFE, you heard this story of Adam and Eve and the Serpent in the Garden of Eden. You can probably still picture the flannel-graph easel board standing at the front of the class, still see Adam and Eve in their leafy clothes hiding behind the tree, still holding the half-eaten apple in their hands while the snake hangs smugly from the flannel tree above their heads.
But the first three chapters of your bible tells you more about YOU than you ever realized, and it tells more about the GOSPEL than you ever realized. The story of Adam and Eve is the story of sin and redemption, rebellion and grace, and sets the stage for the story of Jesus Christ Who is Himself the creator and redeemer of all things. The story of death and atonement starts here in the opening chapters of Genesis.
You will never appreciate all that you were originally created to be if you don’t know who Adam was and all he was created to be, and you won’t know what Adam lost if we don’t first understand what he was given.
This is more than a story of the first man and woman eating from a forbidden tree in a Garden.
It is a story of kingdoms and realms, of dominions and authority, and of power. It is a story of truth and lies, thievery and restitution. It is my story and your story.
Paradise is not completely lost. It is within reach. It is as close as a prayer.
“Now after John had been taken into custody, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.’” Mark 1:14-15
And he was saying, “Jesus, remember me when You come in Your kingdom!” And He said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise. Luke 23:42-43
Ok, go get that bible and let’s get started!