Pleasures and Treasures - No. 152

Genesis 2:8, “And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden.”

Do you like to enjoy pleasures in your life? I am sure you do. Well, listen to this. God wants you to enjoy pleasures too. He wants your life and your home to be filled with pleasures and delights. When God created the first home for Adam and Eve, He called it Eden. The Hebrew meaning of this word is, “pleasures, delicates, delights.” Knox translates it correctly, “God had planted a garden of delight, in which he now placed the man he had formed.”

Everything God did in the beginning, He did as a pattern for the future of mankind. God made the first home a place of delight. This was his intention for all future homes. He wants your home to be a delight too.

Yes, it is true that God put Adam in the garden to work. This is the pattern of life. Work and pleasure. We have to work hard in our homes to keep them in running order. But God also wants them to be filled with joy and delight.

This should be a top priority in our thinking.

How can I make my home a more delightful place to live?

How can I bring more enjoyment into our marriage relationship?

How can I bring more pleasure into the lives of each of my children?

How can I make my home a treasure house?

Proverbs 15:6 says, “In the house of the righteous is much treasure.” I believe this treasure is more than beautiful furnishings and wealth. I believe it is the true treasures of love, joy, peace, harmony and the richness of fellowship. I have walked into homes with beautiful décor and felt unmoved. And yet I have dined in humble homes where the atmosphere was rich with the joy of fellowship.

Isaiah 51:3 says, “For the Lord shall comfort Zion… he will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the Lord; joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody.” Maybe it’s like a wilderness in your home. It doesn’t have to stay like that. If you will let Him, God wants to help you make your home a place of joy and gladness. He wants you to fill it with thankfulness, instead complaining; songs of praise instead of grumbling.

He wants you to take care of the relationships in your home too—with your husband and your children. Eden also means, “delicate”. Relationships can easily be broken or damaged. A few hurtful or negative words or a mean look and the relationship is weakened. We must handle each one delicately, considerately and with loving care.

What about children? I think they are the greatest treasures we can have in our homes. They are eternal treasures. They are the treasures we don’t have to leave behind. We can take them with us into eternity. Isn’t it unbelievable that many families have more TV’s in their homes than children? This is in the case of Christian homes too!

No wonder the CJB translation says, “The home of the righteous is a storehouse of treasure.” What do you have stored up in your home? Are there lots of “things”? Or is it filled with children and the delights of joy, thanksgivings and praises?

Love from NANCY CAMPBELL

Prayer:

“Lord, you had a plan for the first home and you have a plan for my home. Please fill my home with your presence that it will become an Eden. Help me to see that one of my greatest roles is to bring pleasure and delight to everyone in my home. Amen.”

 

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