The other weekend, I had some downtime and found myself on the couch doing a bit of channel surfing, jumping form one station to the next looking for something interesting to watch. Then I stumbled on a music video show that was celebrating the 1980s, an era of big shoulder pads, mullets, big hair dos and some of the best pop music ever written! Then on came Wham! singing their smash hit, ‘Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go.’ The hair, the dress sense. I was wondering... what were they thinking?
In the next scene, there comes George Michael with his oversized t-shirt on with the words printed on the front: ‘Choose Life’! It certainly was a blast from the past.
If you don’t know what I’m talking about, Google it, you’re bound to have a good laugh!
The next day, still with this image in my mind, I came to read my Bible and I read a story about two trees in a garden and how one tree symbolised choosing life. In the middle of the Garden of Eden were two trees. There was ‘The Tree of Life,’ by which Adam and Eve could participate in the divine life and live forever with God. There was also ‘The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.’ This tree signified autonomy, that is the decision to play God and decide what is right for oneself. This concept is caught well in Old Testament Book Judges 17:6, where it states, "In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as they saw fit."
The question we may well ask ourselves is this: If God didn’t want Adam and Eve to eat from The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, why did He place it right in the middle of the Garden of Eden? Or even, why didn’t God put a big fence around it to stop Adam and Eve from getting to its fruit?
The answer has to do with a key difference between human beings and the rest of living creation. All other living things automatically became what God had commanded them to be. But God created human beings in His image, sharing His unique relational capacities, because God wanted to have a personal relationship with humans. A personal relationship that is genuine is one that must be chosen. The two trees then act in a kind of sacramental sense. They were physical things by which crucial spiritual choices were enacted.
Tragically, Adam and Eve, by eating the fruit form The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, chose autonomy over faith in God. As a result, they and everyone after them should have been eternally lost. How sad to have had something so special in close communion with God but lose this special relationship because of a self-centred desire to have autonomy.
However, the story does not finish there! Through Jesus Christ, God has provided each of us with another opportunity to remake this choice and once again enjoy close communion with God.
When the leader Moses instructed his people in Deuteronomy 30:19 to ‘choose life,’ Moses did not say this as a threat or command, but as a renewed opportunity given by God’s grace to participate in the divine life. Jesus gives you and I this same choice and calls us to ‘choose life.’
One of the privileges we have each day at Heathdale is to start the day with homeroom Devotions. This unique and special time at the start of the day is really important to us as a community, as it is when we create space in our day to be able to learn more about how to ‘choose life.’
This is something we don’t ever take for granted. It is a privilege to be able to speak into their lives with this life-giving message.
I’d also like to take this opportunity to wish you well for the upcoming break. May this present you with some time to do some special things with your family and loved ones.