“The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.” Genesis 2:15-17.
Why would God place a tree in the garden and forbid Adam to eat from it? God wanted Adam to obey, but He gave Adam the freedom to choose. Without choice, Adam would have been like a prisoner, and his obedience would have been hollow. The presence of the forbidden fruits in the garden provided Adam a platform to exercise his choice, with rewards for choosing to obey and sad consequences for choosing to disobey.
God also has given us choices and we too, often choose wrongly. Eternal life with God is pictured as eating from the tree of life, while eternal death is pictured as eating from the knowledge of good and evil.
Satan is a fallen angel; he is real, not symbolic. Satan’s temptations are real and he is always trying to get us to live his way or our way rather than God’s way. Satan is always offering an alternative choice through his temptations.
Are you aware that your soul cannot die and that when you close your eyes in death, you will open them in the spiritual realm called eternity? In eternity, time does not end. When you open your eyes in eternity, you will discover that there are two eternal destinations of a man, HEAVEN or HELL. You must spend eternity in one of them depending on the choice you have made now that you are still alive. Please note that the choice of where you will be throughout all eternity is squarely yours to make.
“For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only son.” John 3:16-18.
You can be saved from eternal condemnation only if you believe in the Lord Jesus; but if you refuse to believe in the Lord Jesus, you are condemned already because of your unbelief. When we don’t know Christ, we make choices as though this life is all we have. In reality, this life is just the introduction to eternity. Choose eternal life and begin to evaluate all that happens from eternal perspective.
Friend, you must not condemn yourself to eternal death because Jesus has already paid the price for your sins. In Psalm 9:17, the Scripture says, “The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God.” The wicked here refers to men and women, boys and girls who in their lifetime deliberately exercised their choice and rejected Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. We plead with you to pause and ponder on God’s warning to you and then choose eternal life.
“This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live.” Deuteronomy 30:19 (NIV).
You can choose life by acknowledging that you are a sinner who cannot save himself or herself. You must also repent of your sins and confess them to our Lord Jesus Christ. You must take a step further to forsake those sins and put your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ who died on the cross of Calvary and resurrected also to take away our sins.
If you decided for Christ after reading this tract, you can write to us so that we can rejoice with you and pray for you.