What are you dressing and keeping

Genesis 2:15

And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. 

After giving man the authority through his blessing to be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth; God placed man in the garden of Eden and gave him the responsibility to dress it and keep it.  

This was man’s assigned job. To dress and keep the garden.

The definition of to dress in this context is:

• To make or set straight.
• To arrange in a straight line and at a proper interval.
• To prepare for use or service. 
• To add decorative details or accessories.

The definition of to keep is truly “all encompassing” including:

• To retain in one’s possession or power.
• To have in control.
• To take notice of.
• To preserve and maintain
• To Manage. 

When I combine the meanings of to dress and to keep into one description, it becomes very clear why God originally created and placed man on this earth.

As Children of God when we accept our being as offspring and creations of God, this becomes our responsibility, to dress and keep the earth. When we accept the gift of salvation and the blessing of Christ having redeemed us from the curse of the law, we step out of the punishment of original sin and step back into the abundance of God’s Grace and Goodness.

Genesis 3:17-19

And unto Adam he said, because thou has hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field;

In the sweat of they face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it was thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.

Accepting our place as Children of God transfers us from the curse of God’s law in Genesis 3:17-19 back into the pre-existing glory and goodness of God as our Father.

Genesis 1:28

And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.  

And what did God’s pre-existing glory provide? 

Genesis 1:29-30

And God said, behold I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed to you it shall be meat.

And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to everything that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat and it was. 

God’s pre-existing glory provided abundant provision. Provision that it was man’s job to dress and to keep.

As the children of God, through Jesus Christ, we are given restoration of God’s abundance on earth as it is present today to also dress and to keep. God is calling his Children, his Families, his Nations, his Kingdom on earth back to a place of replenishment and restoration.

That replenishment and restoration comes with the responsibility to maintain, arrange, set straight, and prepare our provision for use and enjoyment with God. And we are directed to do that by retaining possession (ownership) and managing the preservation of God’s abundance and blessings.

How does God direct us to retain, manage and preserve? Through our faith, which comes through the renewing of our mind.

Romans 12:2

And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.  

God has inspired me to ask the question. 

What are you dressing and keeping? 

As Children of God, as Families of God in Christ, as Nations trusting in God, what are we dressing and keeping?

Are we maintaining, arranging, setting straight, and preserving the light of God in this world?

Or are we addressing, reacting to, correcting, and preserving the confusion, division, and fear that this world creates through condemnation, shame, hate and unbelief?

To have, hold, preserve, cultivate, and multiply God’s abundance we must be focused on God’s abundance. We cannot be focused on God’s abundance if what we are dressing and keeping is the fruit of condemnation, shame, fear, unbelief, and self-doubt.

God has instructed and Jesus modeled to us how we are to use our thinking, our words, and our actions to manifest, maintain and multiply the blessings of the Lord. First and foremost, loving your brother and others as God loves you.

John 13:34-35

A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.

By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.  

We cannot achieve the full manifestation of God’s abundance and be successful in or job to manage, maintain, arrange, set straight, and preserve the earth alone. It requires every like and kind of man and spirit that God has created in his image.

Therefore, we must reevaluate that which we are addressing and keeping that is spreading condemnation, shame, fear, and unbelief and opening the door of division and destruction among the Children of God, within the families of God and between the Nations that trust in God.

It is time to step back into our role as the models of salvation and caretakers of God’s promise of abundance on the earth. To do that we must let go and release anything that is causing division and strife and not showing love to our brothers, neighbors and others as God instructed us through Jesus Christ.

As Children of God, as Families of God in Christ, as Nations trusting in God, what are we dressing and keeping.

Are we maintaining, arranging, setting straight, and preserving the light of God in this world? 

Or are we addressing, reacting to, correcting, and preserving the confusion, division, and fear the world creates through condemnation, shame, hate and unbelief? 

What we dress and keep is the fruit and the branches of what we create.