{Adam's Choice}

I just realized yesterday that Adam could have freely eaten of the tree of life.

Freely. 

As in, it was conveniently within his reach all the time.

"And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:  But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die."  Genesis 2:16-17

I had to read it like five times.  For real.  It was an incandescent moment.

I'm an idiot, I know.

Not surprisingly, this opened a Pandora's box of thoughts for me.  At last.

My imagination was immediately captivated with Adam's awe as God takes him from the land from which he was created and places him in the breathtaking Garden of Eden, with all its lush vegetation and trees.  I can see Adam nodding and asking questions as he walks along, talking and listening to the God of the universe as He patiently and excitedly shows Adam what He has made.

Eventually, they come to the midst of the garden.  God stops, His demeanor changing, earnest and serious.  He wants Adam to understand the magnitude of what He's about to say.

These two particular trees are extra special, one of a kind.  One offers eternal life, the other the knowledge of good and evil, but ultimately, death.  It wasn't a guessing game either.  I believe God was very clear as to which was which, just as He is with us when it comes to right and wrong.

Think through this with me, won't you?  Adam had the option of eating daily and/or eternal sustenance.  One was an ongoing choice.  The other, well, he got one chance to enjoy it.  In a nutshell, he found himself facing a life or death decision.

So do we.

I couldn't wrap my imagination or my brain around why he wouldn't choose the tree of life.  It seems like a no brainer to me.  What could he have possibly been thinking?

Maybe he didn't like the pressure of the decision?  Or maybe, he enjoyed the suspense, and wanted to make doubly sure he made the right one?  After all, he only knew good.  It was familiar and comfortable.

But, then again ... the knowledge of evil would add a new dimension to his life, break up the monotony a bit, not that he would complain.  And knowing of something and doing it aren't the same thing, after all.  Change can be appealing even though he couldn't even begin to imagine all the ramifications.  Or maybe, he simply didn't want to be decisive.  It could wait.  He didn't ever have to eat of either if he so chose.

In fact, his not choosing was his choice.  Just as it is with us.

We don't know the time frame exactly, but it would seem that he safely stuck to eating of the trees on the outer perimeter of the garden for quite some time.

I can appreciate that.  When someone warns me about something, I don't have to experience it to be motivated to keep my distance.  I totally have an "I'd rather be safe than sorry" mentality.  T.o.t.a.l.l.y.

Take drinking, for example.  I've seen enough firsthand destruction caused by it that I have never even remotely had a desire to drink.

I ran into the grocery store the other day to grab lunch.  Things were slow so the cashier and the bag boy were having an animated chat when I approached.  Without missing a beat the cashier included me in the conversation.

"We were just talking about our 21st birthdays.  A friend of ours turned 21 on Saturday.  It's Tuesday and he's still hung over!"

Politely, and as sweetly as I could, I replied, "Oh, that's too bad.  Life is all about choices though.  I'm grateful to be able to say I've never had a drink.  Not once.  It is possible."

"Oh my, really?" she said,  "That's cool.  I know what that's like.  I have friends who think I'm nuts because I've never smoked marijuana."

At that point, I figured further conversation would be pretty much futile.  I'm relatively sure my mouth was gaping as I tried to think of something to say other than what I was really thinking, "Nice.  So, this is what our world has come to.  No wonder.  We're doomed."

Of course, after I left, I thought of 50 things I could have and would have LOVED to have said.

But I said all that to say that we are never ambivalent when it comes to our decisions toward the Lord.  We are constantly choosing, even when we haven't actively made a choice.

All this began, way back in the garden 4,000 years ago when Adam and Eve chose the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life over life itself, eternal and more glorious than you or I could even begin to imagine.  The one they were already living in a measure, walking and talking with God and enjoying Him and the unmarred beauty of His creation, happy, peaceful, and utterly carefree.  That could have been their forever.

You know what really amazes me though?

The breathtaking grace of the God who was willing to give him the choice.  

He had dreams for Adam.  Great big ones.  Bigger than life.  But, He hadn't created Adam to be a robot.  He created him for fellowship and for His good pleasure.  He chose Adam.  But He wanted ... rather, He chose to grant Adam the freedom to choose His will over his own.

Adam chose death.

Does that simple statement lump tears in your throat like it does mine?  I can hardly bear the thought.

With one bite, one choice, he broke the heart of the One who loved him enough to give him the choice?  Why would he do that?  How could he do it?

Why would He?

Why do I do what I do?

The answer is more obvious than I like to think.  It's even more poignant at Christmas.

Love.

Love is a choice.  A choice that leaves us raw and vulnerable.  The greater the love the greater the potential for hurt.  It's also action, obedience.  A very accurate and telling gauge of our level of love for God is how implicitly and whole-heartedly we keep His commandments, which automatically overflows into how well we love others.  I had to ask myself, is the majority of my time spent making me happy or Him?

I was not pleased with the answer.

"But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him."  I Cor. 2:9  Why?  Because they choose Him!   Over and over again, every moment of every day.  As many times as it takes.

How like us to choose what we think we want because it pleases our senses, temporarily, here and now, because we love ourselves.

How like God to bring life from our choices of death for eternity because He loves us.

Jesus, the second Adam, was born, lived, and died on a tree so that you and I would have the chance to choose life.  How fitting that Jesus would die on a tree.  Trees always point to the Savior.  This particular tree of life held One.

"And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto Me.  This He said, signifying what death He should die." John 12:32-33

Jesus died on a tree of life to give the choice back to those who wanted it so that they might in turn become the means for others making a better choice than Adam, trees of life.

It's the least we can do in light of so great a love, don't you think?

The choice is now yours.

Don't be an Adam.

Choose life.

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"The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and he that winneth souls is wise."  Proverbs 11:30

"A wholesome tongue is a tree of life:  but perverseness therein is a breach in the spirit."  Proverbs 15:4

"He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God."  Revelation 2:7

"Blessed are they that do His commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.  For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie."  Revelation 22:14-15