It's Your Move

“I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food.”

“You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.”

When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. But the LORD God called to the man, “Where are you?” He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.” And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?” The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.” Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” (Genesis 1:29; 2:16-17; 3:6–13 NIV)

The story of sin entering the world.
The story of the fall of man.
The story of good verses evil.
The story of responsibility and choice.

The story of Adam and Eve is a reminder from the Bible that from our very first breath, God created us with responsibility and with choice. The lesson from the garden: There is not a scenario where God creates humanity without the power and the freedom to choose.

Most people feel that their life – especially their spiritual life -- is not what they wished it were. But so often we stop there, we hope and we pray that it gets better. We need to move to the next step of examining what we are doing to actually grow. What are the practices and priorities that are shaping us? What are we choosing?

The reality is that God will never do anything that overrides your will in your life. He respects your will, he allows you to choose. He gives you the power and the desire to move, but ultimately it is your move.

If you are going to experience transformation, if you are going move towards the life you were meant to live, you have to own your choices. And realize that the choices you make today create the life you are going to live tomorrow.

Two simple questions:

1. What are the choices you are making that prevent you from moving toward God?
2. What choice do you need to make to move to where you want to be?

Peace, hope and love

Doug