Adam and Eve were created in the image of God, but they were not robots. Endowed by the Creator with free will. They had the ability to make decisions independent of God.
Free will is what separates man from all creation.
Without the gift of free will, morality and accountability would be nonexistent.
Irrationality and fear would rule.
Evil would walk hand in hand with holiness.
Hate with love.
Theft with honesty.
Lying with honesty.
Adultery with fidelity.
Murder with respect.
The most primal, primitive instincts would dominate man’s existence. Hell on earth would be a reality.
To vanquish satan and establish His heavenly Kingdom here on earth. God in His infinite wisdom decreed.
“Let Us make humans in Our image, in Our likeness. Let them rule the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the domestic animals all over the earth, and all the animals that crawl on the earth.”
So God created humans in His image. In the image of God He created them. He created them male and female.
God blessed them and said, “Be fertile. Increase in number. Fill the earth and be its master. Rule the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky and all the animals that crawl on the earth.” Genesis 1:26-28
But God knew His children’s hearts. They would have to kill, deaden, deprive of power the evil desire lurking. Those animal impulses and all that is earthly that is employed in sin. Sexual vice. Impurity. Sensual appetites. Unholy desires. All greed and covetousness. For that is idolatry. The deifying of self and other created things instead of God. Colossians 3:5
God’s children would have to learn how to…
Submit to God’s sovereignty.
Unequivocally accept His word as truth.
Distinguish good from evil.
Assume responsibility for their choices.
Establish a relationship with God not based on their efforts and traditions.
Boldly and graciously proclaim, “I will freely sacrifice to You. I will praise Your Name O LORD for it is good.” Psalm 54:6
You may desire God in all things but to act on that desire will require God’s grace. To become Christ-like you must honestly confess.
I know that God’s standards are spiritual, but I have a corrupt nature. Sold as a slave to sin. I don’t realize what I’m doing. I don’t do what I want to do.
Instead, I do what I hate. I don’t do what I want to do, but I agree that God’s standards are good.
So I am no longer the one who is doing the things I hate, but sin that lives in me is doing them. I know that nothing good lives in me. That is nothing good lives in my corrupt nature.
Although I have the desire to do what is right, I don’t do it. I don’t do the good I want to do. Instead, I do the evil that I don’t want to do.
Now when I do what I don’t want to do. I am no longer the one who is doing it. Sin that lives in me is doing it.
So I’ve discovered this truth. Evil is present with me even when I want to do what God’s standards say is good. I take pleasure in God’s standards in my inner being. However, I see a different standard at work throughout my body.
It is at war with the standards my mind sets and tries to take me captive to sin’s standards. Which still exist throughout my body.
What a miserable person I am! Who will rescue me from my dying body? I thank God that our Lord Jesus Christ rescues me! Romans 7:14-25
(Excerpt from I AM The Faithful Father)
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