Choosing

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Then He created man.

God placed man in a garden that He planted for him. It had a variety of fruit bearing trees including the "tree of life" and the "tree of the knowledge of good and evil". He told man that he could freely eat from any tree in the garden but not from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If he did, he would die.

God gave man a choice and left it for him to decide.

Adam was brought into being in a perfect environment. Everything God created for him was good. He had direct personal interaction with the Creator and experienced physical nearness with Him like no other human being in history. Yet as good as everything was, something was missing. Generations later, our Creator personally revealed to us what that something was.

“...If anyone loves Me, he will keep my word...He who does not love Me does not keep my words...” John 14:23-24

Yes, these are the words of Jesus. He is our Creator (John 1). In knowing who He is, we know why He spoke these words.

What was missing was love.

Though the Creator loved Adam and had given him rule over every living thing in His creation, Adam didn't love Him in return. He didn't have love for God within his heart that would enable him to keep the word God spoke to him. There was another creative work still needed. This work wouldn't be recorded in the book of Genesis yet it would be God's greatest act of creation.

God would create love in the heart of man.

This He did, and is still doing, through the cross.

“We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us...” 1 John 3:16

When we believe what Jesus did on the cross comes from His love for us, a love for Him is miraculously generated within us. We're then able to genuinely love Him in return. It's this love that enables us to keep His word. And it's this love that will enable us to endure tribulation and remain faithful to Him as this present world nears its end.

From the beginning God has given mankind the opportunity, and freedom, to choose.

Everything that Adam needed, and what he was purposed for, was available to him in the Garden...including eternal life. Had he chosen to eat from the tree of life he would have lived forever. God let Adam choose between what He wanted for him and what Adam wanted for himself. In doing so, eternal life with the Creator would be by man's choosing...according to his desire.

Eternal life with God by choice is at the heart of the gospel of Jesus. The opportunity to choose life with Him has been offered to mankind through His gospel for more than two thousand years. All this time God has patiently endured our rebellion against Him. Soon, this will change. What He desired to bring about through this offer will be accomplished. He will fill His kingdom with those made in His likeness, who love, because He Himself is love.

A time of testing is coming for all who dwell on earth. It will be a public displaying of mankind's fidelity. God will allow trials and events to bring mankind to the ultimate point in history when all will choose whom they will give their allegiance to. Jesus will then come to gather those who are His through having chosen to believe and receive His sacrifice of love. God's judgment will then be poured out on the unbelieving who would not receive the love of the truth, the very love of Jesus, to be saved (Revelation 13 & 14, Matthew 24, 2 Thessalonians 2).

The choice each make will be according to what each desires.

There's something of infinite value that will help us get through this time of testing. It's knowing the desire of our Creator.

“Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.” John 17:24

I believe the glory the Father gave to Jesus is the glory of His love. Jesus wants us to be where He is so that He can share this, in its fullness, with us. Our love for Him will enable this to happen.

Imagine...the glory of pure and perfect love, the very essence of who God is, shared with us for all eternity!

As we near the end, we will be increasingly assailed because of our faith in Jesus. Many of our brothers and sisters around the world are already suffering persecution and martyrdom. I believe we here in America will also.

Are we prepared?

So much has been given to us. We know what's ahead and have been given time to prepare. The preparation we need most is of the heart. We need enduring love.

“We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, so also are we in this world.” 1 John 4:16-17

As Jesus is, so are we. We are the light of God's love in a dying world. He brought us into this world at this point in history and made us into His likeness so that we would be.

Our course has been set. As we are "perfected" through the adversity we endure, so is our love. Enduring love will see us through to a glorious eternity with Jesus...

...if He is our choice of desire.

About the Author: Kevin Carmody and Tammii Carmody came to know Jesus as their Lord in the late 1970’s. During the years following, they participated in a number of short-term ministry trips to Central America and Western Europe while raising their two children. In the mid 1990’s, The Lord asked them to consider Abraham’s “other” descendants who lived in the Middle East...the Arab nations. In response, they resigned executive positions that they held in their occupations and joined ALL NATIONS in 2003 to receive ministry training as field workers. The Carmodys have lived and served in the countries of Oman, United Arab Emirates, Iraq, and Germany, ministering to both Arabic and Farsi speaking peoples with the love and forgiveness of Jesus. They now reside in Arizona.

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