Being Successful Made to be Productive

Being Successful

Made to be Productive

Paradise is the place every one of us wants to live

I am sure we all have a definition of what paradise looks like

So it would be interesting to compare our view of paradise to God’s

God’s original plan was for us to live in paradise

Paradise needs to be cared for

“The Lord God took the man and put him in the

Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. 

We were made to be productive

Made to be Productive 

Paradise is the place every one of us wants to live.

I am sure we all have a definition of what paradise looks like.

So it would be interesting to compare our view of paradise to God’s.

God’s original plan was for us to live in paradise.

That place is found in the first 3 chapters of Genesis.

The name of that place was called the Garden of Eden.

As beautiful as the Garden was it still needed cared for.

   

“When the Lord God made the earth and the heavens — 

and no shrub of the field had yet appeared on the earth and no

plant of the field had yet sprung up, for the Lord God had not

sent rain on the earth and there was no man to work the ground”

Genesis 2:4-6 NIV

Much of the time our dream of

paradise is what it does for us.

A place where we don’t have to work,

a place where we do whatever we feel like,

no worries be happy.

 

God saw paradise as a place of responsibility.

“God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number;

 fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds

of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground."”

Genesis 1:28

“The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work

it and take care of it.  And the Lord God commanded the man, "You are

free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree

of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die."

Genesis 2:15-17NIV

The blessing of God was He

created everything we needed.

Imagine for almost 7000 years we have

not depleted any of the earth’s resources.

We are finding more oil, more gold.

Trees and plants still produce food.

This is all because God created it this way.

God made the heavens and the earth as provisions.

God has given us everything we need for life and godliness.

In order to be successful in life you need to realize

that God has made all your provisions available…

Both natural and spiritual.

God’s intention is that you prosper

even as your soul prospers.

Every tree in the Garden needed

proper care just like they do today.

Although doing things our way removed us from the

Garden of Eden so we could not eat of the Tree of Life and live…

 God has made a way for us to eat of that tree and live.

Jesus Christ died on a tree for your sin and mine.

Jesus is the fruit that hung on that tree.

We are invited to come taste and see that the Lord is good.

 

The earth is the Lord’s.

Most of us don’t like working for someone

else because we like doing things our way.

God’s command is still…

 Be fruitful and increase in all the earth.

God wants you and I to keep occupied until He comes.

We still live in the same heavens

and earth God created in Genesis 1.

If we want to see the Paradise of Eden, we

will have to see it through God’s eyes.

Adam and Eve’s choice to do things

their way brought a curse on all of us.

But on the cross the curse was dealt with.

God worked for 6 days and on the 7^th He rested.

We are invited to enter into that rest.

This does not mean we are not to be productive and work.

What this means is that in everything we do in

word or deed we are to do it as unto the Lord.

  

Our motivation, to be productive and to make full use of

every provision God has given us, is to bring glory to God.

So two questions we need to ask ourselves…

1.     Am I productive?

2.      Is my productiveness for my gain or for God’s glory?

Is the Lord’s earth better because of you?

   

Scripture Reading

Genesis 1:1-31

1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.

3 And God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. 4 God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light "day," and the darkness he called "night." And there was evening, and there was morning — the first day.

6 And God said, "Let there be an expanse between the waters to separate water from water." 7 So God made the expanse and separated the water under the expanse from the water above it. And it was so. 8 God called the expanse "sky." And there was evening, and there was morning — the second day.

9 And God said, "Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear." And it was so. 10 God called the dry ground "land," and the gathered waters he called "seas." And God saw that it was good.

11 Then God said, "Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds." And it was so. 12 The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. 13 And there was evening, and there was morning — the third day.

14 And God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years, 15 and let them be lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth." And it was so. 16 God made two great lights — the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. 17 God set them in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth, 18 to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19 And there was evening, and there was morning — the fourth day.

20 And God said, "Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the sky." 21 So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living and moving thing with which the water teems, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 22 God blessed them and said, "Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth." 23 And there was evening, and there was morning — the fifth day.

24 And God said, "Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: livestock, creatures that move along the ground, and wild animals, each according to its kind." And it was so. 25 God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.

26 Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground."

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 said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground."

29 Then God said, "I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. 30 And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground — everything that has the breath of life in it — I give every green plant for food." And it was so.

31 God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning — the sixth day.

NIV