God conscious or work conscious?
What gets your attention? Are you running in the rat race? Are your days and weeks filled with getting work done? Are you motivated by performance? We have become so programmed to work that we have lost the art of being God conscious. Life has dictated what we need to do and what we need to be. It has distracted us from our original purpose. Adam and Eve were commanded to rule and reign the earth from a place of rest. God created everything and then on the sixth day He created Adam. The very next day was the seventh day and it says that God rested. Adams first day of ruling and reigning was a day of resting. From this rest with God man was to exercise his command to have dominion.
What did it looked like on the day that God rested? The bible says that at the end of the sixth day God looked at everything He created and said that it was very good. Nothing was out of place or out of order. Everything functioned as ordained by God. Adam did not have to change anything God made. He was to rule in the sense of accepting all that God created and represent God as heaven's ambassador. Adam did not have to fix anything. Nothing was broken. Adam was not required to do any work in the sense that he had to strive to accomplish something that God forgot to make perfect. So in this world of perfection, Adam rested in all God accomplished. Nothing he could do could make it better. Ruling from the rest of God was effortless.
Then something happened. The enemy came and changed the game plan. He showed up and challenged Adam and Eve that resting is not enough. You have to do something. If you work for it, there will be no consequences. I call it the voice of Eden. Eat of the fruit and you will be like gods. Come on and do something. If you do nothing you will stay like you are. To do nothing won't make you like God!
Gen. 3:5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
Adam and Eve fell for the oldest trick in the book. If you do it yourself, you would be more fulfilled and feel more accomplished. Don’t accept it for free, earn it because you will love the way you feel about yourself. Adam and Eve accepted the lie and reached out to eat and partake of the fruit of self-effort. How do I know it? Because right after they sinned they realized they were naked and followed that sin with more works. They made themselves clothes to cover their nakedness. Work, work and more work, which leads to more work.
Gen. 3:11 And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?
So God comes and visits them the next day. He has to go looking for them because they were hiding. Their works caused condemnation to rule their minds and shame to determine their actions. They were too shameful to face God. So God asks them about their nakedness and their sins. “Who told you that you were naked?” This is a very profound statement God makes. Their works had become a voice in their lives – the voice of Eden. This voice carried condemnation. What they did was not enough. They had to do more next time. Eating was not enough; they now had to make something to cover their consequence from eating. That voice has never been quieted as men and woman have struggled through the ages and would always feel like they needed to do more to be like God. That voice of works would become a slave master that would drive people to be work conscious and not God conscious.
Anytime we miss it we feel that we need to do something to fix it. This voice from Eden has masqueraded itself in the disguise of religion and has enslaved millions and immunized them against the result of what God accomplished in Christ Jesus. The voice of Eden makes it sound foolish to just believe that you can have His righteousness without working for it. The voice from Eden says repenting is too simple and you need to make penance: paying something to get absolved from your sin. I am so glad that God came and made them clothes. He clothed them and I am sure His clothing looked much better. Their works faded in comparison to His works. He wanted to reassure them that He does it better. Stop trying Adam and let Me do it!
Jesus came to do it for us. Can you see what Adam and Eve must have seen after God clothed them? Can you see that His sacrifice is better than any sacrifice you will ever make? Can you see that He wants you to rest in His accomplishment? The voice of Eden says work; God's voice predated Eden and it says rest. The voice of Eden will cause the smell of Adam – sweat – to reveal your effort. The voice of God will reveal His glory. The voice of Eden will make you work conscious; His voice will cause you to be God conscious.
Noah believed and it was accounted to him for righteousness. Abraham believed and it was accounted to him as righteousness. Abraham is called the father of our faith. Faith has a voice that says rest. Are you tired of trying to do it? He is waiting for you to come to a place of rest. Jesus said that the Father is doing the works. Rest is to watch Him do it and be partakers of His work. Amazing to think God does not mind us being part of what He does so well!