I can’t recall how many times I’ve heard the creation story. If you were raised in a Catholic home and went to a Catholic school, chances are the story of Adam and Eve has been drilled into your head time and time again. It goes like this:
God created a bunch of stuff> then man> he was lonely so +Eve> good times all around> then Eve ate apple> gave apple to Adam> original sin> everyone suffers forever and ever and ever after #inanutshell
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But little do we know, there’s so much more depth to the story than meets the eye. Many will argue the validity of Genesis and never get past their own understanding. Because of this, most of us miss that which matters most- the why rather than the how.
“When the Lord God placed the man in the Garden of Eden to cultivate it and guard it. He told him, ‘You may eat the fruit of any tree in the garden, except the tree that gives knowledge of what is good and what is bad. You must not eat the fruit of that tree; if you do, you will die the same day.’” – Genesis 3:15-17
THEN…
“The woman saw how beautiful the tree was and how good its fruit would be to eat, and she thought how wonderful it would be to become wise. So she took some of the fruit and ate it. Then she gave some to her husband, and he also ate it. As soon as they had eaten it, they were given understanding ad realized that they were naked…” – Genesis 3: 6-7
What exactly went wrong? If God is all-powerful and all-knowing why would he even create that tree in the first place? Didn’t he already know that Adam and Eve were going to disobey him? Why didn’t he just hide that tree?
Because God wanted man to have free will, to choose freely out of obedience not obligation.
….or else we’d be robots.
When Eve chose to fall into temptation she did two things:
- she believed the serpent’s lies; God was holding back the best from them
- she failed to trust in His goodness.
When we fall into our own temptations and sins, we adapt that same mentality: “God doesn’t really have a plan for us so I’ll just make my own!” or “God hasn’t really provided so I’ll just choose to settle for something else right now”. Sin doesn’t necessarily mean we’re choosing the bad rather it is the conscious decision to choose a lesser good than God.
Our intellect is darkened and compromised. Our will is weakened.
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The death that God spoke about in the beginning is not so much a physical death as it is mental, emotional, and spiritual.
Getting caught in the act of something (bad) is not called punishment.
….that’s called MERCY.
The punishment is the pleasure we experience from the act itself. Sin turns into habit and habit into addiction. What seems and feels like freedom is actually slavery. The more we indulge in the sin, the more we’re inclined to do it over and over again. Because the truth is, you can never have enough of what you don’t need.
Maybe you’ve fallen so hard that you’re spiralling down and the only way to get out of it is a huge reality check across the face. That was the case with me. God had to shake my life up in order for me to finally REALIZE that I needed Him. Only Him. In fact, God still continues to shake things up because He knows that I’m capable of more. I’m made for more.
Mercy is God shining light into our life and the decisions we’re making. Mercy is God teaching us a lesson so that we can learn to seek out true happiness and freedom. Mercy is God asking us to reconsider specific parts of our lives that need to be visited. Mercy is God giving us a wake up call because He wants us back through repentance, faith and healing.
Mercy is Christ saying, “My promise still stands. My covenant is unconditional. And although you chose the lesser good, you are still good enough for me.”
He’ll love us forever. He’ll like us for always, as long as He’s living His children we’ll be.
