Genesis 2:15-17
God Gives Adam and Eve Choices
15 The Lord God put the man in the Garden of Eden to work the soil and take care of the garden. 16 The Lord God gave him this command: “You may eat from any tree in the garden. 17 But you must not eat from the tree that gives knowledge about good and evil. If you eat fruit from that tree, on that day you will certainly die!”
Even though God knows all things, He has chosen to give us free will...Ever since God created Adam and Eve, free will was there...They were give one rule in Eden and it was that the could not eat from a specific fruit tree...The evil one nudged Eve along, and she ate the fruit from the tree, and then she nudged Adam on and he ate the fruit...They both chose to go against God's command and they ate the fruit from the tree that God had told them not to eat from...So, because of free will Eve and Adam ate the forbidden fruit...So quickly, it seems, we could make our own choices outside of God's Will and we could choose to do our will instead...So in making our own choices and having free will and not following God's Will does not come without its own consequences...For instance Adam and Eve were forced to leave paradise and find food, clothing, shelter, and water own their own...So even though we have free will, we are responsible for the choices we make...It is a sin to go against God's Will...We are to follow God's commands, but through free will we may not do so...
Let us remember what St. Paul said to the Galatians about the choices we make and how they affect both ourselves and others...Whoever is being taught God’s Word should share the good things they have with the one who is teaching them...If you think you can fool God, you are only fooling yourselves...You will harvest what you plant...If you live to satisfy your sinful self, the harvest you will get from that will be eternal death...But if you live to please the Spirit, your harvest from the Spirit will be eternal life...We must not get tired of doing good...We will receive our harvest of eternal life at the right time...We must not give up...When we have the opportunity to do good to anyone, we should do it...But we should give special attention to those who are in the family of believers...
But God, who is LOVE, sent us a Savior and we are given salvation by His Son Jesus and we can believe in Him with that same free will to get us to eternal life...For Jesus tells us that this is eternal life, that we may believe in Him and the One who sent Him...
So when I recently read this poem by Shannon L. Adler, who is a therapist and author, talking about God and our daily choices, it caught my interest...Adler has written that “You are not what others think you are...You are what God knows you are.”...“Sometimes, you will go through awful trials in your life and then a miracle happens--God heals you...Don’t be disheartened when the people you love don’t see things like you do...There will be Pharisees in your life that will laugh it off, deny that it happened, or will mock your experience based on righteousness they think you don't possess...God won't deny you a spiritual experience because you are not a spiritual leader...He LOVES everyone equal...The only people that really matter in life are the people that can “see” your heart and rejoice with you.”...
Her poem on choices is focused on women and their daily choices, but we as men also make choices like these everyday...I thought of our free will that God has given us and how we choose throughout our own lives to have a mentality and attitude toward one thing or another...The poem is called You Choose...
You chose.
You chose.
You chose.
You chose to give away your love.
You chose to have a broken heart.
You chose to give up.
You chose to hang on.
You chose to react.
You chose to feel insecure.
You chose to feel anger.
You chose to fight back.
You chose to have hope.
You chose to be naïve.
You chose to ignore your intuition.
You chose to ignore advice.
You chose to look the other way.
You chose to not listen.
You chose to be stuck in the past.
You chose your perspective.
You chose to blame.
You chose to be right.
You chose your pride.
You chose your games.
You chose your ego.
You chose your paranoia.
You chose to compete.
You chose your enemies.
You chose your consequences.
You chose.
You chose.
You chose.
You chose.
However, you are not alone...Generations of women in your family have chosen...Women around the world have chosen...We all have chosen at one time in our lives...We stand behind you now screaming:
Choose to let go.
Choose dignity.
Choose to forgive yourself.
Choose to forgive others.
Choose to see your value.
Choose to show the world you’re not a victim.
Choose to make us proud...