Adam and Eve were placed into the Garden of Eden.  It was where they belonged.  One wrong decision changed their lives, and set them on a different course.  I left off in yesterday’s post questioning if they could ever find complete peace and contentment after they had been banished from their home.  I think a sense of belonging from that point on was always just out of their reach.  If you missed the intro to this series, you can read yesterday’s post here (Created Into Community).

We have never experienced the world as Adam knew it.  Adam knew what perfection was, the Garden of Eden was heaven-like, and he longed to go back.  But there would be none of that, and his choice to sin impacted all generations to follow.

We live in that fallen world. 

Yet God is merciful, and it tells us in Ecclesiates 3:11, that He has set eternity into the human heart.  We long for heaven.  We can never be totally fulfilled here because God has put a longing into each and every one of us.  We all have a hunger that will only be satisfied on the other side of heaven’s door.

Heaven is our home.

Heaven is set in our hearts.

It is our perfect place.

And even though Adam and Eve no longer walked the garden paths in their heaven on earth, and never again found the perfect place to belong, eternity was set in their hearts.  They, too, now looked forward to heaven, their eternal home.

Did that mean God was finished with them?  Had they fulfilled their purpose on earth?  Tomorrow’s post will touch the lives of Adam and Eve one last time, and then we will leave their chapter behind and move onto yours and mine.  Yes, eternity is in our hearts and complete comfort in this world is unattainable, but that doesn’t mean we can’t find our place, our purpose, and our people.

It was no accident that I began yesterday’s post with the words, ‘Once upon a time’.  Come back and see how the story continues and how you and I fit into it.

(Click here for next post.)