Let's decide to begin this new year with the same grace Adam showed Eve. I've not previously noticed the timing of Adam giving Eve her name. The consequences of their sin have just been declared; paradise has been lost. The nature of their relationship with God, with one another, with the natural world...has been irrevocably changed. Adam when confronted by God immediately blames his wife but the next opportunity in the narrative where Adam speaks, his heart toward her has changed.
Did anyone experience betrayal this past year? My life has not been without suffering from the lack of integrity of others. When a friend chooses to be self-serving at your expense, we feel violated, used, devalued. All sorts of names come to mind! I have experienced this in my professional life, even this past year. Unfortunately, I've not struggled with finding all the "best" names for that person! But if we hope to see people change, we must stop naming them based who they are and begin declaring who we believe they will be. This is the gift Adam gave to Eve. As you are reading Genesis 3, what sort of "names" came to mind as you anticipated Adam's choice for a name? If you connected that moment to your own recent experience of betrayal, like I did, well, you might not want to speak them out loud around children!
Adam calls her Eve because she WILL be the mother of all who live. To date, with Adam, she has most recently been the mother of sin...but Adam now prophesies over her life, declares her future, rejects her past! Who in your life needs you to stop defining them based on who they were? Who in your life needs you to give them a new name? Their change just might be waiting for your grace, your faith in who they too long to be.
It's gonna be a good year!
Pastor Fred
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