Life is made up of choices such as what you’ll eat, what you’ll wear, when will you be able to retire are just some of our everyday thoughts. But it’s the big decisions that can change your life forever that are tough to make. Everything you do is dependent on the choices you make, and you have no one to blame for it.
God gives to everyone a free will to choose. When God placed the Tree of Life in the Garden of Eden, He left it in the middle of garden, along with the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Bad. Then the Lord put Adam in the garden and instructed him to freely eat of every tree BUT of the Tree of the knowledge of good and evil he should NOT eat of it.
Why? For in the day that Adam eats of it he will die. Choice #1 happened in the garden with life or death as the consequence.
Notice that God did not put the tree in the back of the garden, nor did He put an alarm system around it. He left it in the middle where Adam and Eve would have to walk pass it all day long.
As caring parents, we want to protect our children from harm, hurt and pain, bad experiences and failures but what if we have that one child who defiantly says, ‘I’m going to eat of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Bad.’ What followed next in the garden? Adam was sent out of the garden to get his own food and had to work the ground that God had used to make him. What a tragedy?
So why then did God put the tree in the middle of the garden knowing that Adam and Eve will do exactly what He told them NOT to do? God always wants us to have a free will. At the end of the day we must all have the freedom to make our own choices but never without consequences.
Tough Love isn’t easy but when it’s the last choice – choose God’s ways. We must alert our children about their choices:
- This is what you have chosen and what you have desired. Take note – the Lord has allowed you to have it
- Fear the Lord and serve Him. Obey His voice, and do not rebel against His instructions and the Lord will bless you and the thing you desire. You will continue to live well and have a peaceful life
- However, if you do not obey the voice of the Lord, but rebel against the instructions of the Lord, then the hand of the Lord will be against you
Parents pray that our children do not turn aside from following the Lord, but that they serve the Lord with all their heart. Pray that they will not go after empty things which cannot profit or give them life. We will never stop praying for our children.
Finally, don’t allow their choices to make or break you. Pray that you will be strengthen with each passing day and they will turn back to the ways of God.
Amazing Grace 