If I take this discussion of living by “the Law” versus living by “the Spirit” down some paths, I find that I begin to see this discussion literally everywhere in the New Testament. In all my years of reading Scripture, even all the years of seminary, I never noticed such a prominent theme. (Now you could argue that I notice it because I’m looking for it, but there’s an ample supply of literature to discuss if that’s the case.)
If I look back at the Garden of Eden and God’s command “not to eat”, I can’t not notice a few details now as I read.
God gave us a choice.
Pure and simple, He gave us a choice. Either eat or do not eat. Either trust or do not trust. Either obey or do not obey. I’ve said for a while now that the reason God had to give us a choice was that if He did not, all we end up being are robots who are programmed to do the only thing we can do.
Think about it. If there was no tree, no command, no risk, what would Adam and Eve have done? They would have communed with God, lived designed in His image, would have been perfect…because that’s what they were created to be. They hadn’t chosen that life, they were only doing what they had been created to do. God would have been the orchestrator of every aspect of their lives and would have lived worshipped by beings that were programmed to worship.
I think about the movie Richie Rich. There’s a scene where Richie finds out that the kids from the neighborhood have been paid to be his “friends.” All of the happy memories he’s just made are tainted now because the question has been raised: did they choose this? Sure they’re happy, sure they’re engaged (he has a freakin roller coaster in his backyard, who wouldn’t want to get paid to be this guy’s friend?!) sure they act like they’re friends. But to get the money, they had to be something. You can say they had a “choice” but to Richie, they really didn’t. They had to act friendly, they had to be enamored with him.
What I’m realizing is that God has taken a terrible risk by giving us a choice. He absolutely wants us to choose to love Him, but has a fierce commitment to not interfering in our decision. The sad reality is, we can choose not to love Him. God’s never been particularly excited (grasp the sarcasm) about the prospect of His beloved creation not choosing Him or living eternally separated from Him.
But He’s taken that risk to engage in sincere, genuine, bona fide relationship with us.
He’s already chosen and loves me.
This risk ultimately cost God, I wonder if He’d do it all over again seeing now how it all worked out?
