What are you saying yes to; Jesus or the World?

We have all heard the story of Adam and Eve and how sin entered the world in the Garden of Eden, but let’s take a closer look at how choices affect us.  There Adam and Eve were, they had the perfect relationship with God.  Think about God walking with them in the Garden and spending time with them.  The Lord God placed man in this wonderful garden that was watered by the rivers running through it and water coming up from the ground.  I can see a wonderful love that God had for man, that he created a wonderful and perfect place for man to dwell.  There was just one simple restriction.  Do not eat from the tree of good and evil.

Then the snake comes along and starts to talk to Eve.  Now really think about this, if a serpent comes along and starts talking to you, do you think this is really who you want to listen to?  I liked the way our Youth Pastor put it this is like a scene in a horror movie that everyone is saying don’t do it.  At that moment it came down to making a choice.  The first choice was to have conversation with the serpent.  Do you see the yellow hazard lights flashing as this is happening.  Warning alarms going off saying this may not be a good idea.

But Eve did not heed the warnings and she had the conversation with the serpent.  She listened to the truth get shifted that 1%.  She already had a perfect relationship with God, and God had provided everything for them to live.  They had dominion over the animals and birds.  But when that seed of un-truth was planted it caused her to wonder, even though I am sure warnings were blaring in her spirit Eve choose to ignore them and she didn’t check up even when the red flashing lights were saying stop don’t do this.  She took a bite of the forbidden fruit and sin was introduced into our lives.  One small act brought sin upon the world.  Those are some heavy consequences for your choices.

As I think about this we all face similar choices as we go through life.  Oh I really want to go to that movie because everyone else is.  Ignoring the warnings in your spirit that it goes against your moral compass.  When you are in that relationship or marriage and you choose to look at someone else rather than your spouse.  When you make that decision you are saying yes to something but you are also saying no to something.  When Eve said yes and ate the forbidden fruit she choose sin over God.  With that choice came consequences for her actions.  The same thing happens for us in our lives.

For every one of us our moral compass may be slightly off kilter because of how we were raised and the influences we have had in our life.  But when you spend time around fellow Christ followers.  When you spend time reading your bible so that you know the difference between right and wrong choices.  Then your moral compass begins to align with God.  As your spirit comes into right alignment with God you start to think differently about things.  Your spirit helps to guide you in the decisions that you make.

I heard it put so well the other day listening to Priscilla Shirer, she called it our knower.  And we know when our knower thinks it is a bad idea.  When your friends say hey let’s go watch the latest horror flick, or something that is filled with raunchy language or sex scenes, will you say yes to what they are saying or will you say yes to Jesus.  I am not telling you what to do, I am just asking you to start thinking about how Jesus would react.  What choice would Jesus make if he were asked the same question.  What is your knower in the pit of your stomach saying to you.

As we walk with God things that used to be acceptable no longer become acceptable.  It is not because we are forced to change it is because of a willingness to change.  I can speak for myself that as I have grown in my relationship with Jesus it has changed me from the inside out.  No I am not perfect and I still stumble along the way, but the stumbles change over time.  I know that things that were acceptable to me 5 or 10 years ago are no longer acceptable to me.  I have gotten where I choose to say yes to Jesus more than I say no to Jesus.  As I do that my moral compass has changed and my spirit gives me warning signs when I might be making a bad choice.

Yes everything you do in this world comes down to choices.  Just think about the choices that you are making.  Who are you saying yes to and who are you saying no to.  What are the consequences of my choices.  Ask Holy Spirit to show you areas in your life where you may be making incorrect choices and choosing the world over Jesus.

Father God I ask you to bless the readers with wisdom and understanding.  Lord bring them into a new awareness of you.  I pray that they will start to ask the simple question “What would Jesus do”.  Fill their lives with hope and wonder as they go through their days.  Amen.