Starting with God

It seemed so simple. It was a perfect world, filled with abundance. Every need was met. Everything was good. There was no sickness or poverty, crime or war.

Into that world God placed Adam and Eve. They didn’t have to understand everything. They just had to follow God’s rules and do the work they had been assigned, to cultivate and keep the garden. Otherwise, they had freedom, and just one restriction: They were not to eat from the “tree of the knowledge of good and evil.”

The consequences of violating this rule seemed clear: They would “surely die.” They may not have understood death and the implications. They just had to obey God. Ultimately, this meant trusting Him. But that proved to be difficult.

We know how this story ends. How the serpent deceived Eve, and convinced her, and then Adam, to break God’s rule. How they could not resist the temptation to defy God and see what would happen. As a consequence of their disobedience, they were banned from this perfect garden. And sin entered the world (along with death, crime, and many other evils).

Since that time, every generation, every person, has faced similar decisions. How to respond to God’s Word. To each of us, in our own ways, He offers us the path to maximum blessings and fulfillment. This means obeying Him, following His rules, not fighting or resisting Him, and ultimately, simply trusting Him.

For you, remember that the path to receive the richest blessings starts with a commitment to this principle: Start with God. Each project. Each decision. Each day.