Life On God's Terms

Living Life on God's Terms: Understanding Sin, Obedience, and Victory

God created humans to be with Him and like Him, giving us everything except the knowledge of good and evil. Initially, we existed in a state of innocence, similar to young children who don't yet understand the concepts of good and evil.

What Happens When We Choose Our Own Way?

When Adam and Eve chose to disobey God, they immediately felt the weight of their choice. This led them to:

Try covering their nakedness with fig leaves
Hide from God
Experience a broken relationship with their Creator
Our human efforts to cover our sin are like those fig leaves - temporary and inadequate. Only God can properly cover our sin and restore our relationship with Him.

Why Does God Allow Us to Make Our Own Choices?

God desires for His creation to choose to love and obey Him willingly. He doesn't force us to:

Have daily devotions
Spend time with Him
Follow His commands
Instead, He calls to us daily, wanting to walk and talk with us, just as He did with Adam and Eve in the garden.

How Do We Access True Life?

Jesus Christ is our Tree of Life, offering fruits of:

Love
Joy
Peace
Long-suffering
Gentleness
Goodness
Faith
Meekness
Temperance
However, we can't access these benefits on our own terms. We must come to Jesus His way, through genuine repentance and submission to His will.

Life Application

Consider these questions:

Are you trying to live life on your terms or God's terms?
What areas of your life are you still holding onto control instead of surrendering to God?
How can you practically demonstrate your trust in God's way this week?
Challenge: This week, identify one area where you've been trying to do things your way. Surrender it to God through prayer and actively choose to follow His guidance in that area, even when it's difficult.

Remember: Your way has an inevitable end in destruction, but God's way leads to abundant life - both now and eternally. The choice is yours to make.