One of the most awesome things about this life is the power to choose. But as Spider-man’s wise Uncle once said, “With great power comes great responsibility.” It is true that the ability to choose is a very wonderful and powerful thing. But it’s also true that the ability to choose comes with very weighty responsibilities. What you choose will inevitably determine who you are and where you spend eternity.
To prove my point, you don’t have to look any further than the first couple in the Bible. Adam and Eve had it all. We think that the Caribbean islands are paradise, but they have nothing on the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve didn’t have to work either. They spent their time leisurely strolling through the Garden. But all of that changed with one powerful choice.
One day Eve was staring at a tree that she should not have been. God had explicitly told Adam that he could freely eat of any tree in the garden except from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Either through lack of communication or willful rebellion, Eve decided to test the boundaries a little bit. We all know the rest of the story. The serpent gets her to take a bite of the fruit, and then she gets her husband to take a bite. Through one powerful choice, mankind had been expelled from the Garden.
But the worst part is that Adam and Eve refused to take responsibility for their choice. Instead they blamed the serpent! This has been the problem with mankind from the very beginning. We have always refused to take responsibility for our choices. It’s always someone else’s fault. We want the power to choose, but not the responsibility that comes along with it.
It is a sobering reality when we realize that one day we will have to stand before God and give an account for all of our choices. In that day there will be nowhere to turn and no one else to blame. It will be you and God, and you will have to explain why you made the choices you did. We must be sure to use the power of our choice to please God and to honor him. The power of choice is the most powerful thing we have as humans. It allows us to determine our own fate, but our choices will either save us or destroy us. We must make them wisely.
