The Advent of Easter, Part III by Pamela Christian—Copyright © 2019
God created humanity with the power to choose for ourselves all matters of life, including death. This power is known as free-will or human-will and it is entirely voluntary. God has not pre-programmed humanity in any degree. All choices are entirely our own, as are the consequences of our choices. God lays before us the choice of life or death, and He’s gone to great lengths to appeal to our intellect and ability to reason, to help us choose life.*
Had God created humanity pre-programmed to love Him, accept and obey His ways, the value of our love and obedience would be meaningless. In the Garden of Eden, the first man, Adam, and woman, Eve, exercised their free-will and rejected God and all He offered. Tempted by the enemy of God disguised as serpent, they succumbed to the pride of life, the lust of the eyes, and the lust of the flesh—and they did so while they were still holy creatures. It was not the thoughts that motivated them to act that condemned them, it was the act of disobedience that condemned them. Understand, God forewarned Adam and Eve what would happen if they rejected God and His ways.
By willingly disobeying and taking from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, they forfeited their pure and undefiled state, and were instantly transformed into an unholy, sinful condition. Understand in His infinite wisdom, God established all of creation with specific laws, both spiritual and natural. While God is unquestionably All Powerful, He has chosen to limit Himself in some matters, such as free-will and never violating His own Word. When God’s laws are violated, the prescribed consequences follow.
God declared the benefits and consequences of taking of the fruit of the different trees in the Garden. To prevent Adam and Eve from also eating of the tree of life, God removed them from the Garden. If in their fallen state they were to also take from the tree of life, there would be no recourse for God or hope for humanity.
In response to the actions of the enemy of God known as Satan, God cursed Satan. In response to Adam and Eve, God pronounced heavy burdens they would now have to bear as would all humanity after them. However, God also promised a Redeemer, who came in the person of Jesus—the One we celebrate in a special manner, during these weeks leading up to Easter.
In this season of Lent, let us truly connect and reflect on the long-suffering love of God and how at every opportunity He demonstrates His desire for our eternal good, even when we utterly reject Him. Scripture reveals we are all born sinners—we have inherited the same spiritual dead-condition the first man and woman caused. Even so, Romans 5:8 declares, “but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (ESV)
To understand more about God’s love, we must know He is also just, which we’ll consider with the next post.
For March 10-11, 2019 read and meditate on the following Scriptures:
Genesis 3:22-24; Matthew 3:2; Matthew 4:17; John 1:23-13; Acts 3:19; Romans 1:20-21; 1 John3:23.
* All calls to repent is a call to choose, or to exercise our free will.
Scroll down below to access earlier posts in this series. To view the entire list of planned devotions, see the Introduction.
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