In the Garden of Eden, we sinned.
I can picture it: Eve, standing before the illustrious tree, eyes closing softly as her lips part for the first taste of coveted freedom. I can see Adam, who upon witnessing her pleasure, resolves to join in the endeavor to satisfaction.
I imagine their excitement as they partook in something that was forbidden, as they indulged in something they desired—something they thought was good for them. I can feel the pain, the remorse, and the despair that came after that high.
When Eve opened her eyes and faced the consequences of her sin, she faced them with a new perspective of the goodness of God. She was enlightened to what is truly good in a way that she hadn’t been before. Looking back at her choice and its consequences, it is easy for us to say that before she made that choice, she was experiencing the goodness of God in a way we all long to.
I think we are justified in saying that, but do we realize that we do the same thing?
We have the ability to experience the goodness of God to an unknown and incredibly amazing degree, but then we make a choice. We choose something we want, or something we think is best for us, or something to mask our pain or anger because it’s unbearable to even think of facing it. Like Eve, our choice separates us from God. And like what happened as a consequence of her choice, our choice removes us from His presence and opens the door for major collateral damage.
The only difference is the thing that we choose.
For Eve, the temptation was freedom that came in the form of fruit.
For Tracy, the temptation was freedom that came in a small plastic bag.
When Tracy was a child, Satan worked through various avenues to plant a seed of doubt in her. Through the neglect of her emotional needs and the embedding of mistruths in her heart, he watered that seed until it sprouted into something Tracy couldn’t handle on her own. She sought to quiet the noise echoing inside of her, and at just seventeen years old, she found something that not only quieted the noise, but also completely numbed her pain: crack cocaine.
The world she immersed herself in with crack was ethereal; the perfect escape from everything that haunted her and caused her agony. After just one taste of that freedom—the freedom she had longed for—there was nothing else for her. Time and time again, she walked out of what should have been her safe haven and into a crack house for more. She grew to depend on crack to make her feel good, to make her forget, and to give her a sense of worth.
Unlike in the Garden, where the consequences of Original Sin were felt immediately, Tracy lived in the murky reality she allowed crack cocaine to create for her for quite some time. It was as if the moment the juice of the forbidden fruit flowed over Eve’s taste buds and filled her with pleasure was playing on repeat for Tracy; she didn’t have to face anything real as long as she just kept tasting.
For decades, her life consisted of drugs, theft, arrests, prison, and probation. Nothing that was a part of her world could break the chains that held her captive. And after living that way for so long, it had almost become comfortable for her.
In 2010, everything changed. Through the grace of one judge, Tracy was awarded the opportunity to treat what was causing all of the issues in her world. Rehab forced her to face her dependency on crack and to see why she had begun to use drugs. She learned that she had holes she was trying to fill, and that she needed something good—something everlasting—to fill them with.
That’s where church came in.
Most times, I think we have it backwards. We think that church is a place we go sometimes where we can feel good about ourselves. We sing a few songs, gather with our friends and family to gain encouragement from a message, and when we leave we go about our lives almost unaffected.
But church isn’t just a place, and it’s not about the worship music, the people who are there, or the words that are spoken.
Church is who and what we are called to be. Church is a community that surrounds people not just in times of need, but all the time. It’s a constant manifestation of unconditional love, grace, mercy, and encouragement. And it is through that that people come to know the love of their Creator, who is the only One who can truly fill the holes in our souls.
Woodside Pontiac introduced Tracy to Him and, for the last seven years, has loved her the way He loves. She has been provided for, prayed over, loved on, guided through times of struggle, and supported lovingly when she has fallen. Because of the church, she has found God. Because of the church, she has experienced family in a way she never could before. Because of the church, she is filled with the love of God which is manifested through that family.
Recently, she was reflecting on her life with me. She expressed gratitude for her story, explaining that even the dark parts serve their purpose in it. She expressed excitement for what is to come, as she prepares to move across the country and start the next chapter. And woven throughout the entire conversation were expressions of awe; awe at the way love has been poured out to her by God through the church, awe at what God has done in her life, and awe at His never-ending grace and mercy.
As I consider what happened in the Garden of Eden, I feel that same awe. One act that forever changed the course for all of humanity was redeemed by the most intricately designed rescue story the world had ever seen.
But God didn’t stop at just one story. Time and time again, we have the privilege of witnessing rescue stories…stories just like Tracy’s.
For He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son He loves. Colossians 1:13