Life Or Death

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

And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.   Genesis 3:6

And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:     Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.     So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.   Genesis 3:22-24

    As I was listening to the Bible the other day a thought came to me as I listened to verses 22-24. God had to place Cherubims and a flaming sword in the garden to keep Adam and Eve from coming back and eating of the tree of life and living forever. Which got me thinking, wait a minute! The tree of life was in the garden this whole time?! There was only ONE tree that God told them not to eat from; the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. That means they could have eaten from the tree of life and lived forever! But instead they chose to eat of the one tree they weren't supposed to. And I can't help but wonder if God kept them from eating from that tree after they sinned so they wouldn't live forever in their fallen state...just a thought.

    After thinking about all that, a question came to mind. Why on earth would they choose to eat from the tree that brought them death when one of the trees they could've eaten from would have given them eternal life? Which brought my thoughts to the present day and the application this passage has for the day and age in which we live.

    Unfortunately, many people make the same choice as Adam and Eve did all those years ago. Saved and Unsaved alike. 

    For the unsaved they are presented the gospel and then must choose whether they will believe on the Lord for salvation, thereby inheriting eternal life, or reject the gospel, thereby choosing death. So many people are searching for a special potion or some medicine to help them live longer or places such as the fountain of youth to live forever. Some may even spend a tremendous amount of many for eternal life but when the opportunity is presented to gain it by simply trusting the Lord they refuse it. God has given them the answer and the choice to accept his gift of salvation and gain eternal life for free! But the thought of not being able to eat of that one tree, giving up all the temporary pleasures of sin that this world has to offer, is more than they're willing to give up. 

    For the saved, we already have eternal life but the pleasures of this world still pull for our attention and our affection. Even after we're saved, God still gives us a choice. Whether we will choose to live for him and do those things which bring life or whether we will choose to fulfill our wants and desires which bring forth death to our spiritual lives and walk with God. 

Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man:     But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.     Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.   James 1:13-15

    God has offered us so much and given us so many things and good things to choose from! We could choose to bring life to our walk with God! But so many times we get our focus off of Christ and all the blessings he offers us and onto the things that we aren't supposed to do as Christians and all the things we "can't have" and the more we think about that, the more we are drawn away of our own lust and enticed. The pleasures of this world look good for food, are pleasant to the eyes, and desired to make one wise. But when we allow that to infiltrate our minds, it brings sin and when sin is finished, it brings death. But if we choose to follow God's will for our lives, it brings us life!

Love not the world, neither the things, that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.     For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.     And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.   1 John 2:15-17

    This doesn't mean we won't ever be tempted, or that it's wrong to be tempted, but we can choose not to yield to the temptation but instead, yield to God and do what's right.

There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.                     1 Corinthians 10:13

    God loves us, and wants what's best for us but he gives us free will and that means we can choose to follow God, or our flesh. He wants us to choose to follow him and choose life, but he will never force us. Here's one of my favorite verses that tells us that!

I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:       Deuteronomy 30:19

You have a choice. Choose wisely because it's a matter of life or death.