We all know the story. There was a tree in Eden loaded with forbidden fruit. The fruit was knowledge……of good and evil. Along with that knowledge came choice and along with choice came power…….and responsibility. Satan manipulated Adam and Eve to steal the fruit, eat it, and enter the world of knowledge, choice, power, and responsibility. The fall.
Did you ever picture Eden before the fall? Adam and Eve lived a simple life. They named and cared for God’s creation. They ate the produce of the garden. They met with God, talked to him, walked with him, and enjoyed the good life……..in an intimate relationship with their creator. But, if you think about it, they had no choice. In a word, they were automatons. Your laptop runs programs. You enter an input and it spews out a response that is exactly what you programmed it to do. It does what you ask. It never surprises you. It never gives you anything that you didn’t put into it. Adam and Eve were like that. They performed exactly as God had programmed them to……no surprises.
I’m going out on a limb here. I wonder if God found Adam and Eve to be a little dull……even boring. They certainly were predictable. After all, they were running God’s program.
Then, one day, they took off on their own. They started making decisions…….choices. Some of the choices were good……others, not so much. And that is the world that we live in. We do good……we do bad……and God watches and intervenes from time to time.
Before the fall, things were calm. I suspect that God watched his well oiled machine purring along. He probably didn’t have much to get worked up about, good or bad. I wonder if he found his creation……well……a little stiff and unsatisfying. But then, all hell broke loose……literally.
Suddenly, God is faced with a creation that is doing as it pleases. I’ll skip over the minor details and jump to the one big question. What does all of this mean…..in the context of our relationship with God. After all……that is the reason for all of creation. That is the reason for our very existence.
At the fall, mankind faced a fork in the road. Seek out a relationship with God…….love him, or reject a relationship with God……ignore him…..deny him.
Suddenly, after the fall, God is dealing with two populations of mankind that didn’t exist before the fall. One of them loves him and intentionally seeks him. These people are actively pursuing a two way relationship with God…….a good working definition of love. This must please God. This population must be more satisfying for God than the automatons he dealt with before the fall. It is not hard to say that this population is much better in relating to God than Adam and Eve. The other population ignores God at best. Some of them actively hate him. This must be extremely disappointing for God……much worse than the automatons.
And so……each of us faces a decision.
Deny God
Ignore God
Love God
So far so good.
But there’s a problem.
This is not a one-off decision that you make at your baptism, your confirmation, or sitting on a mountaintop somewhere at sunrise. It is a decision that you must make thousands of times every day. This is hard work. It is disruptive, even dangerous. Most Christians ignore God half of the time. The very best ignore him 10% or 20% of the time. Some people choose to hate God……because of something that has happened in their lives. You will choose one of these three paths in your relationship with God.
It’s your call…….compliments of Adam, Eve,………and the serpent:
Deny God
Ignore God
Love God
Well?
He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?
Micah, 6:8 ESV
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.
Deuteronomy, 6:5, ESV