I just wrapped up a Journey class at my church (Granger Community Church, GCC) on the topic, "The Tragedy of Sin - The Tension of Trust." The pastor teaching the class, Jason Miller, basically pulled us through the tragedy - Adam & Eve lose their place in the garden, separating mankind from God - and through the tension - a vision of who we are and who we were meant to be, what is and what could have been - while laying out one foundational truth: God has always been trying to get us back, calling us to trust Him, trust His son, and walk back into the garden (so to speak). God hasn't given up on us.

I take comfort in this Chapter in Hebrews. It wasn't referenced in the class; i stumbled upon it from one of the blogs i read. But it relates to the topic, i think. There's a voice of invitation in Heb. 4 that runs parallel to one of the promises God offers when we decide to trust Him: Rest or, even better, restoration. In the Journey class, Miller said a return to trusting God restores us.

In verse 12, Paul describes the Word of God as "living and active ... it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart." If God's Word is living, it would have always been, existing from the beginning. In the Journey class, Miller touches on this with John 1:1 and John 20:1. One verse affirms it while the other refers to the moment Christ leaves the grave defeating sin, the tragic separation between us and God. Mary is waiting outside and doesn't even recognize Jesus; in fact, she thinks he's the gardener! Where did the tragedy of sin begin? In a garden. Track with me to Luke 4:1-2. Jesus spends 40 days in the wilderness being what: tempted by Satan. It all goes back to the beginning: "Jesus gets it right where Adam and Eve got it wrong." (Miller) Jesus restores us to God where Adam and Eve separated us from God.

Paul may just be talking about rest. You know, the occasional nap or the stop-and-lay-down-the-plow kind of rest. But i think God's trying to engage us in something deeper here. Broken by sin, removed from His presence, we wander through the wilderness of this world without rest, without peace and without the divine inheritance of eternal life in heaven. But, when we come to God and rest in Him - when we choose to live in Christ (not in Adam) - it is in our brokenness (our fragmented state, as Miller put it) God restores the image intended for us. We come to rest in a place of Godliness, holiness and divine order. We come to a place of endless love and oneness with God. We are embraced and nurtured by Abba, a Father who never stopped believing in us. We come home.

Hebrews 4:1-16