Man was made to serve.

Genesis 2:8; "The LORD God planted a garden toward the east, in Eden; and there He placed the man whom He had formed."

Now check out Philippians 2:7; "(Jesus) ...emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men."

What am I getting at?

I have heard it before, but connected it again this past Sunday: Man was made to serve.

God made man. God made the Garden of Eden. God put man in the garden. God gave man the responsibility of taking care of the garden (and everything else in the world). God gave us power over all living things. God also gave us choice.

So, we were made to serve God and each other. Adam served Eve, and vice versa. Adam was made first, Eve as his helpmate (perfectly matched companions, responsible to each other).

But we exercised our choice to eat the fruit. By doing so, we experienced pain for the first time. Some want to say we got smarter, but, no, we just realized we cut off our ability to have eternal life, sadness. We realized our nakedness, shame. We realized the inherent power structure, slavery - or so we thought.

We tried to compensate for our sadness, shame, and slavery. We sought out a variety of coverings, like masks, just hiding the wounds, until we came to know God's providence through sacrifice.