Choices; everyone has them. Hope; everyone needs it.

“In the beginning” of the Bible there is a book called, Genesis. It’s a beautiful beginning to a complex Bible. I can remember a friend of mine telling me that the Bible is complex enough for the smartest minds in the world to study it every day for the duration of their lives and still only scratch the surface of the depths of knowledge that it holds; yet it is simple enough for people like you and me to understand. It’s just as profound to me now as it was then.

Choices.

When God created the heavens and the earth and everything in between he would say, “it is good.” God was pleased with his work. But, his greatest masterpiece was in creating you and me in his own image. Out of all of the beautiful places to visit and out of all of the magnificent sunsets and sunrises nothing compares to the beauty that God sees in us.

Choices.

God placed Adam and Even in a garden called, Eden. Words cannot describe the vast beauty of this garden. God gave them dominion over everything on the earth, he told them to “be fruitful and multiply” and yet he also gave one warning. God told them that they could eat of any tree in the garden, but one. The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil was off limits. Don’t touch the hot stove! Don’t go over there! Don’t run into the woods during a horror movie! Don’t check out the noise coming from beneath the stairs! Don’t eat of this tree!

Choices.

Satan is the most cunning and deceptive enemy that we Christians will ever face. He’s smart, savvy, manipulative, and yet he is only out to “steal, kill, and destroy.” He is not your friend. What he offered to Adam and Eve that day was a choice. God told them what not to do and Satan appealed to their human nature to entice them to do what they wanted to do. In that one moment when Satan whispered, “did God really say?”, it planted a seed that grows in each and every one of us. The battle between the flesh and the spirit was born in the garden. Sadly, the flesh won. It doesn’t really matter to me who was deceived or who ate the apple first. If we get caught up on all of that stuff we focus on the trivial and lose sight of the eternal. Sin was born that day. Adam and Even made a choice to satisfy their flesh and they chose to disobey God. It’s really that simple.

Choices.

God speaks truth; Satan speaks lies. Every day we have a choice to make. We either chose to serve ourselves or we choose to serve God. Every. Single. Day. God does not change and his word does not change. He never will. His word never will.

Hope. There is always hope.

The hope of the world was born in Bethlehem. He was born so that he could die which sounds really depressing until you look at the end of his 33 years. God sent his one and only son to die for us. God did that for you and for me. Why? I wouldn’t send either one of my sons to die for you. No way! He did this so that you and I could live.

Hope. There is always hope.

Jesus was fully God and yet he was also fully human. He slept. He ate. He got mad. He wept. He walked. He talked. He ate. Yes, he went to the bathroom. Fully human. I’m often drawn to the humanity of Jesus as if to somehow make me feel better about my own humanity. Jesus did not sin though. I did. I do. I will.

Hope. There is always hope.

The night before Jesus was to be crucified he spent time with the men that he loved the most. A ragtag group of misfits who wouldn’t be the first choice of any Pastor to hire for their church staff. But, Jesus sees the beauty. He sees the mighty warrior in Gideon. He sees the father of many nations in Abram. He sees liberator in Moses. He sees the king in David. He sees determination in Ruth. He sees the rock in Peter. He sees the greatness in you and in me.

Hope. There is always hope.

After dinner Jesus went out to the garden called, Gethsemane. He went to pray. He took some of his disciples with him but as he went deeper into the garden he went alone. Jesus and his father; one in the same but yet different on this night. The Bible says that Jesus was agonized “as unto death.” Some versions say he was “greatly distressed.” If I had to die for the sins of the world I would be beyond consolable. Honestly, I wouldn’t choose to do it. I would die for my family in a heartbeat but not the whole world. Sorry, but can we still be friends?

The humanity of Jesus did not want to die on that cross. He pleaded with his father a few times to find another way. Jesus knew that in just a few hours he would be tortured, beaten beyond recognition, humiliated, and then nailed to a cross so that he could suffer for a few more hours.

At the end of his prayers he always said, “not my will but yours be done.” I don’t want to do this but I will do what you ask. I would rather die a different way but I will do your will. I would rather not do it this way but it’s your will that I desire to follow. At the end of the night he came out of that garden knowing what he had to face and determined to do it. Why? He didn’t do it just to die for us; he did it to obey his father.

Adam and Eve made it about them.

Jesus made it about the will of his father.

May I encourage you to seek the truth over the lies of the enemy? Don’t give up. Don’t quit. There is ALWAYS hope. The cross made it all possible!! There is light at the end of the tomb!

You can read about these gardens in the book of Genesis chapter 3 and in Matthew chapter 26