What is the purpose of life? Return to Eden.
More specifically, return to our original creation. That is a major theme of the Bible. Put plainly: return to the original image, form, and likeness, as to how we were created—seen in Adam living in the Garden of Eden before he and his wife disobeyed God.
Eden is a harmonious place, a place where things functioned perfectly. A “ground zero” of perfection. A place that witnessed the precision of our creation. The epitome of a tranquil place; one that God himself walked amongst. His presence freely walking along with his creation… walking side by side his created Adam and Eve. Our Creator walking with us. Speaking directly to us. An unmistakable interaction: the ability to talk directly with God. Sincere humble communication. Could you imagine?
Everything was exactly how it should be. What went wrong? We all know the history. Adam and Eve disobeyed God. They neglected his instruction not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. They knew God’s instructions, God’s warning, and were briefed on the consequences of disobeying. Yet… what? Yet they chose to ignore his instruction and do what they wanted to do. They did what was right in their own eyes. They ate from that tree. Instead of submitting to the instruction and authority of their Father, they disobeyed him and did what they wanted to do because they were convinced that their way was a better way—that their way would benefit them. Again, what exactly did they do wrong? They did not keep the instructions of Almighty God… and guess what? We have been doing the same thing ever since: we have been ignoring and disobeying the instructions of our Creator and Father of all things. We do not keep the instructions of Almighty God.
Consequences. Our grandparents were kicked out of the garden and banished from having a free unincumbered relationship with the one powerful enough to speak and things be—to create things that we’ve spent our whole lives trying to unravel, understand, and replicate. Before “the fall,” we had everything we needed and we lived in harmony with it all. Most importantly, we had a direct relationship with the most powerful being in existence. He talked with us. Taught us things. Shared his heart with us. A true relationship. We had it all.
With this in mind, if we could go back in time, what could we do to avoid losing it all and live a life of harmony with one another? We would naturally go back in time and convince Adam and Eve to keep the instructions of God at all costs. We would encourage them, their sons, and eventually ourselves, to continue to obey the smartest being to ever exist—the one who designed and put DNA into motion. Pretty natural solution: listen, hear, and obey the one who put all things into perfect rhythm and order. We would tell them to, simply: keep the instructions of Almighty God.
Well, things haven’t changed—because that’s our biggest problem today. We are just like our great-grandparents… we struggle to listen, hear and obey what our awesome Creator instructed. We do not keep the instructions of Almighty God.
We must return to Eden. We need to get back to a point in our lives where we recognize who our Creator is, his might, his knowledge, and his sincere love for us. If anyone wants the best for you, it's Him. It’s always been him.
Return to Eden—return to the mindset of happy obedience to the one who loves us most. Desire and strive to keep the instructions of God.
In Eden, before we disobeyed, we lived out our life’s purpose: to reflect and be an example of the image of God. Our life’s purpose, which is hard to fathom, is to bear the image of God in whatever we do. We were created in His image, right? Yup.
26 Then God said, “Let Us make mankind in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the livestock and over all the earth, and over every crawling thing that crawls on the earth.” 27 So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. 28 God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” - Genesis 1:26-28
If we were made in His image… and he told us to bear his image, why don’t we just do that very thing? May I propose something? Maybe we are following in our grandparents’ footsteps, believing more in ourselves and in our own ideas and understanding. Maybe we spent enough time as children, listening to our worldly parents, and we want to be adults and do our own thing? Maybe we have trouble wanting to listen to anyone but ourselves? I’m not sure. Yet, what I am sure of completely: our Creator would know the best way we are to live and be. Almighty God knows the right way to live and love others.
That’s the major theme of the Bible and probably the most important: return to the image we were created—return to walking in the Ways of Almighty God. Keep the instructions of God.
Yet, we don’t apply this reality. We struggle with that so much that we create our own excuses, our own doctrines, and our own misdirection to avoid fulfilling our life’s purpose. It blows my mind how long I created excuses to misunderstand the Bible and misdirect so many others along the way. I failed big time. I bought the lie that we just cannot keep the instructions of God. That God sent his son, Jesus to keep them for us, because we just could not, and it wasn’t worth even trying. I bought the lie that the instructions of an unchanging and perfect being would in fact be subject to change. I goofed up. I was mistaken, big time. It wasn’t until I finally put two and two together that it finally clicked, and I could not lie to myself any longer:
If God created us in His image… we should naturally walk as he walked, and lived as he lives.
Created in the image of God + the example of his perfect Son = we should walk in the ways of God
If we walked in the ways of God, then we have returned to the perfect image we were created. That’s our purpose in life. We are to walk in the ways of God, just like our Messiah did perfectly. How do we walk in the ways of God? We keep his instructions… because they are his ways.
5 Only be very careful to follow the commandment and the Law which Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you, to love the Lord your God and walk in all His ways, and keep His commandments and cling to Him, and serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul.” - Joshua 22:5
The instructions of God, recorded in Deuteronomy, are the very same ways of God. Keeping those instructions is how we walk in His ways and bear his image.
Return to Eden… the place where we walked in the ways of God. The very place where we rightly loved our Creator. We loved God by walking in his ways. We loved and respected God by doing what he told us to do. We loved and respected our Father by being the sons and daughters he created and desired us to be (just like an earthly parent craves for their children). We must return to the image and love witnessed by the creation in Eden.
Our life’s purpose, no matter what career we choose, the hobbies we enjoy, and the responsibilities we attend to every day… our life’s purpose is to bear the image of God by walking in his ways.
When we obey God and keep his instructions, we truly love God and love those around us. These instructions are perfect for eternity, just as our Creator is perfect for eternity. We keep the instructions of God because our Messiah, the one who died for us, kept the instructions of God and taught us to do the same. We are to follow him and live exactly as he lived. He kept the instructions of God perfectly.
Messiah kept all the instructions recorded in Deuteronomy. He was a loving son of God. I don’t know about you, but I want to be just like Messiah. I’m tired of taking the advice of man over the advice of our Creator. I want to return to Eden. I want to be just like God, by loving Him and loving others the way His Son did. I trust him when he said that his instructions are not burdensome and that we can keep them.
My life’s journey is to intimately know God by intimately understanding his instructions and keeping them the best I can. I want to love others as he loved. I want to return to Eden. I think I’ll start by following Messiah as best I can… by learning, meditating, and applying God’s instructions in Deuteronomy. By actually following Messiah the way he kept the instructions perfectly. From tzitzits, to dietary instructions, to keeping the Holy Days of God… I want to be just like them. If Messiah did it, I want to do it exactly like him. He wore tzitzits, fine, so will I. He didn't eat pork? and neither will I. He obeyed and honored the Holy Days designated by God? I'm in! He knew how to love others and did so? I will do my best!
May we all crave to return to the Garden of Eden. May we all desire to truly follow Messiah and dismiss anyone trying to teach us otherwise.
Seek first His kingdom, seek first His righteousness, and everything else will be provided to you.
I really hope to meet you along The Way.
Sean is a former Atheist who was finally awoken to the reality of our Creator—which led him to the one place he thought he would never step foot: “Bible College.” During his studies, our Heavenly Father flipped his Christian worldview upside down in order to reveal the Whole truth of His perfect Word. As a follower of Messiah Yeshua (Christ Jesus), Sean encourages believers to deepen their faith, seek the truth, test everything, and be willing to walk in the true image they were created: the image of the Most High and His flawless Son.
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