Way to Dominion

Thinking of God's processes in the life of Adam.

God's plan for man was to have Dominion.
God offered Adam Dominion over all creation, 
and yet there was a process.

We could say that Adam was born (when created) but he was not yet fully formed, because man is formed through the decisions of his life.

Did God really need to put the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the garden ... and then allow Adam a choice?
Adam was born innocent but his character was not yet formed nor revealed -
only testing could do that.

Maybe we can call the naming of the animals Adam's first test.
      He stood at that time together with God,
and discerning the nature of each animal he gave them their names - 
     names which expressed what God had bestowed when He gave them life.

Now Adam is faced with a second test
- this time he is alone when making the decision.
     This time the decision has to do not with his mind, 
          but with his heart,
               it is not measuring his understanding, 
                    but with the measure of his commitment to the One Who revealed His will about the fruit of the tree.

All must go through this process if they would become a man.
Jesus "learned obedience" ...do we ever think of that?
      ...that obedience is only learned through the act of obeying?
When Paul says that Jesus "became obedient" (Phil. 2.8) 
     does it not mean that obedience became His life?
         Jesus' declaration was, "Lo I come to do Thy will O God."(Heb 10.9)

1 Tim. 2.14 says that, "Adam was not deceived." 
He knew what the fruit meant.
He knew the enemy was not to be trusted, 
but he chose to follow Eve in her partaking of the fruit.

Facing the greatest decision of his life,
     Adam chose Time over Eternity,
          Adam chose his own will.
               Adam chose to Get and not to Give.

In taking the fruit he lost everything else,
spiritual life,
     communion with God,
          the promised dominion,
               the garden of provision,
                    the blessed state of earthly creation.

In taking the fruit he found a realm he had never known before,
     death,
          alienation from God,
               sickness and pain,
                    a mind exposed to all the tortures of uncertainty,
                         and all the fears of the unknown future.

Instead of a future of Dominion over all, he found a future of being overcome.
     A place where there was no dominion -
          rather daily exposure to destruction by an enemy greater than himself.
     And he carried the weight of the fallen world -
          which he himself had destroyed.

When we think of the salvation which God has brought to us,
let us think in view of this Fall, this Loss.

To mankind under the sentence of death,
Jesus came to bring Life ...
     "If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature,
          old things are passed away;
               behold all things are become new."

As we have seen and experienced a world of loss,
     let us gaze with open eyes at the  new creation which our salvation brings.

          How can we do less than obey?
               How can we do less than worship, 
                    and give Him our all?