Adam and Chelle'

Sinless, perfect, in His image... God created man. Adam and Eve- and put them in paradise. The Garden of Eden. He then told them one thing... gave them one guideline...

And the Lord God commanded the man, “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” (Gen. 2:16, 17, NIV).

The serpent enticed Eve, who pursuaded Adam who ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Immediately they were separated from God. Immediately they were made aware of themselves. Immediately the perfect union with their creator was severed.

When God comes to the Garden they hide. They are more aware of their nakedness than the intimacy and presence of the Lord. God asks them if they ate from the tree... Adam blames Eve- Eve blames the serpent.

Because of their disobedience- holiness, innocence, union with God were lost... suffering and death were gained. AUTONOMY became a priority. When Adam ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil he clearly stated his LACK of a need for God and His provisions. BLAME became a necessity. Adam pushing responsibility to Eve and Eve diverting attention to the serpent. SELF-AWARENESS took precidence over intimacy with God. They hid from God as he entered the garden- covering themselves because they were aware of their nakedness.

Adam and Eve were accountable to the Lord for choosing to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil... just as we today are accountable for choosing things not of the Lord (Rom. 3:22–25). Because God is holy and just- all sin requires punishment. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Ahhh for the gift of God. His son.

So... here's the thing. Pastor Jay referenced Adam and Eve eating from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil and how that very moment seperates us all from union with Him... and for a split second- an arrogance, ignorance, sweeps over me. WHY am I being punished for something someone else did? Why am I even in a position by where I have to accept Christ in the first place? Did I eat from the tree? Did I disobey God? Did I listen to the serpent?

And then it hit me. YES!!! Yes, Yes, and Yes. If they didn't... I CERTAINLY WOULD HAVE. And on a regular basis... I do! As Paul says, "I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. . . . I can will what is right, but I cannot do it. . . . For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do." Romans 7:15, 18b & 19 For Pete's sake... did I explain how they ATE from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. The truth of the matter is that I have an OK shot at resisting evil in forms of fornication, drunkenness, theft, etc... but EATING... cast me out of the garden now. I'll be the first to admit that were I to have been in that garden... your Bible would read- Adam and Chelle'.