I have mixed emotions when it comes to my memories of high school. There were good days, but there were also some really bad days. Being a teenager is stressful enough with all of the changes going on in your body and your mind, and don’t get me started on peer pressures. But there are social insecurities that are in the spotlight even more prominently if you don’t have a firm foundation in your home life. Throw into the mix a completely misunderstood identity in your faith and it’s a recipe for disaster.
My behavior then is not to be excused because of those things. I knew what was right. I knew what I was doing was not right. At the time, and for many years after, I was lost. I had grown up in church (preacher’s kid, right here!) but what I caught from what was taught was not always a good-news gospel. It was mixed. It was taught that God so loved the world… but even after being saved, giving my heart to God, asking Jesus into my heart (there are many other renditions to choose from), I caught that I was still so filthy and unworthy and that there was no real assurance that Heaven was my destination for eternity. I step out of line, then I better confess and repent. If I didn’t, then I may or may not set foot on the streets of gold. Anyone else grow up in something like that? Is that the heart of God?
Like most high schoolers, we spent time studying William Shakespear. More specifically, Romeo and Juliet. As a teen struggling with the somewhat self-inflicted chaos, I was drawn to the love story and the devotion. Faced with a life apart from the one they loved, they both chose to not live that life. Really a terrible choice for both of them, and I look at the story now and easily see the ridiculousness of it all. But I couldn’t help but think of this famous play just recently while my hubby and I were talking about another popular story.
The woman was convinced. She saw that the tree was beautiful and its fruit looked delicious, and she wanted the wisdom it would give her. So she took some of the fruit and ate it. Then she gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it, too. Genesis 3:6 NLT
It’s normal, but interesting, that Eve gets such a bad rap. She was deceived. She was tricked, lied to, bamboozled and all the other ways it can be expressed that she got taken for the worst ride of her life. The devil saw an opportunity to destroy what God loved and he took it. I know that I’ve been tricked before. I grew up extremely gullible and hated it so much that now I’m on the other end of the spectrum: I don’t trust easily. Everyone has been the victim of believing a lie at one point or another – whether they are aware of it yet or not (Oh, boy). But what happens when we find that we’re fallen and standing alone in a mess of our naivety?
For God made Adam first, and afterward he made Eve. And it was not Adam who was deceived by Satan. The woman was deceived, and sin was the result. I Timothy 2:13-14 NLT
The ancestry of Jesus is fascinating to me. As a kiddo – and as a disgruntled teenager – I found all of the who-begat-who to be absolutely mind-numbing! So much worse than studying Shakespear in high school. Now, however, I see so much richness and interesting facts in it all (Check out Sealed Rest for a cool look at a who-begat-who from Genesis 5). Luke 3:23, for instance, states that Jesus was known as the son of Joseph. Now jump over multiple generations to verse 38:
Kenan was the son of Enosh. Enosh was the son of Seth. Seth was the son of Adam. Adam was the son of God. Luke 3:38 NLT
Adam was the son of God…
The Scriptures tell us, “The first man, Adam, became a living person.” But the last Adam—that is, Christ—is a life-giving Spirit. What comes first is the natural body, then the spiritual body comes later. Adam, the first man, was made from the dust of the earth, while Christ, the second man, came from heaven. I Corinthians 15:45-47 NLT
All this time that I’ve heard of the comparison between Adam and Jesus, Jesus and Adam, I was missing something that seems so obvious now. Eve was deceived, but Adam wasn’t. He knew the truth and wasn’t gullible to what the devil was saying in his effort to harm what was most dear to God. Instead, what if he looked at Eve, saw her brokenness and loved her so much that he wasn’t willing to let her face her dark future alone? What if he saw her and said that he was willing to be fallen, too?
Adam was listed as a son of God. He modeled God’s love with Eve just like Jesus did for the church. If y’all didn’t already know, if you believe Jesus is the Son of God and died for you and rose again (asked Him into your heart, got saved, gave your heart to God, etc.) then you are the church. That means you are the bride of Christ. He saw you and decided that He would join you in your humanness. He would then take the punishment and judgment of your sins so that you wouldn’t have to. He experienced separation from God so that we could have the right to call Him Father.
Every time I’ve thought of Adam and Eve, I’ve thought about how badly they blew it. They get the portion of Heaven that is heavily guarded and no one can access so they can remain safe from everyone else, right? But there’s so much beauty to be seen in Adam’s sacrifice. He was not deceived. He knew he would lose, but he also saw Eve to be worth it. This is the first picture of Jesus. This was love in action. Adam modeled a stewardship that we don’t often see today.
As a teenager, I was so very lost, yet I was searching. I was searching for a love that would never give up on me, push me away, or ask me to leave. I was searching for the truth that would set me free from the bondage of inadequacies that had been inadvertently heaped on me by most everyone I knew – including the church and even myself. But the heart of God is reflected in Adam’s actions. He was a true image-bearer of God.
So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. Genesis 1:27 NLT
Adam was made in the image of God and his actions proved it. Most people who read the story of creation conclude that being created in God’s image means we look like Him or have similar physical features, but it’s so much more than just appearances. To be made in God’s image means that we’re also to love the way He loves. Notice that Adam acted out that love before He ate the forbidden fruit.
How do we reflect God’s image? Do we love and sacrifice for those around us? How have we experienced being loved like Eve? All of mankind was hurled into darkness when Eve fell to deception. All of mankind was shown a picture of our redemption when Adam chose to join her. As a mixed up teen and young adult, I was completely missing the fact that I was already loved like Eve. Now we’ve been called to pass that love on to others. That’s the image I want to bear – the image of God.