An amazing aspect of being made in the image of God is the gift we were given of moral freedom. It is amazing given the cost God knew He would pay for that gift.
Because mankind was created for relationship with God, it
was imperative that they be given the choice
of whether to choose or reject Him.
To force someone to love another is not love but coercion. God would not coerce
His creation. Rather He created Adam and Eve with pure hearts, unmarred by any
sin, but still He gave them a choice: They could eat from any tree in the
garden except one and if they ate of that one tree they would die.
The fact that God created mankind with moral freedom to
choose right or wrong tells us a great deal about Him. Choosing Him and
righteousness had to be a free choice if it was to be a true relationship and
followership. Adam and Eve had a great advantage that we do not have, they were
without a sin nature, so like Jesus who lived a sinless life, they could choose to reject sin. And they did,
until that fateful day in the garden when they discovered the awful ramifications
of their choice to rebel.
There is another facet to giving mankind this choice to
follow or not. God is omniscient, which means that He knows all things, from
beginning to end. Thus He knew that in giving mankind moral freedom that they
would choose to rebel. He also knew that He would initiate a divine rescue
operation that would cost His Son His life on the cross to pay for our sin.
Knowing all this, He still chose to create mankind – knowing full well the cost
it would require to redeem men and women from their sin.
What this tells us is the value that God places on men and
women created in His image. Not only was He willing to create them knowing the
outcome but in spite of their rebellion and the cost of reconciling men and
women to God, he still desires our love, followership and fellowship.
Paul puts it this way in Romans 5:6-8. "You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."
If you ever wonder how much God loves you or desires your love and
followership just think of the price he knew he would pay in order to make that
love and followership possible. He created us for fellowship with Him. In order to make that fellowship a free choice on our part he gave us the gift of moral freedom in spite of the cost to Him. That is how much He desires our freely given love and worship.
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