What if God had not laid any restrictions on Adam and Eve in the garden? What if there was no fruit that was off-limits? Then there wouldn’t have been any law that could be broken. No possibility for sin. We couldn’t be guilty if there were no rules to be broken. We could never offend the holiness of God.
But there also would have been no free will. No opportunity for Adam and Eve to freely choose God as their first love. The tree asks, “Will you trust and believe that I love you and have good intentions towards you? Will you choose me over something else that looks good to you?” It’s an invitation to the intimate relationship God wants with us.
All love must be a gift. It ceases to be love when it’s demanded or stolen or forced. So God created us with complete control over our heart. “Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the Lord Almighty” (Zechariah 4:6). God draws us to Himself with His Spirit, with His very essence. He is all mighty, all powerful, but He doesn’t force us. Instead He reveals Himself, asks us to see who He is, and to love Him.
God wants first-love status. Can you hear it when He establishes His relationship with Israel? “Don’t give your love to anyone besides me. I’m jealous for you – I won’t share your affections! I’m looking for the ones who desire me so I can love them lavishly” (Exodus 20:3-6, paraphrase). It’s an everlasting covenant with a promise – “I will be their God and they will be my people” (Jeremiah 32:38). God’s side of the agreement is to love us with an everlasting love (Genesis 17:7).
What’s our side? To choose God. David wrote, “Oh God, you are my God” (Psalm 63:1). It’s free will. We freely choose God to be our God, to be our first love, to give our worship and our hearts to Him. We claim Him as ours, and identify ourselves as belonging to Him.
I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine. Song of Songs 6:3
It’s tender intimacy. It’s a promise of love now and more love to come – an engagement. We enter into an irrevocable covenant. There’s no turning back. We give Him primacy in our hearts and He gives us His Spirit. The presence of the Holy Spirit marks us as belonging to God; He’s our guarantee that God will keep His covenant promise (2 Corinthians 1:22).
God doesn’t choose us because we’ve made something of ourselves, but simply because He loves us (Deuteronomy 7:8). We don’t bring anything of value into the relationship. We contribute nothing to our dowry. It’s God who purchases our freedom from bondage to sin so we’re free to love Him (Colossians 1:14).
Salvation happens in an instant and only comes as a gift of God (Ephesians 2:8). Sanctification takes time and requires our cooperation. Sanctification is the process of being made holy. It’s being transformed into the person God declared good at Creation. Salvation is new birth; sanctification is growing up.
A mother gives birth and raises the child, but the child has a part to play, too. We still have free will. We can choose to maintain our relationship with God, or we can flirt with other loves.
This is why Paul urges the Philippians, “Put into action God’s saving work in your lives, obeying God with deep reverence and fear” (2:12). God’s working, and we’re working. We are gloriously essential in governing our hearts.
It’s possible for you to stop partnering with Him. It’s even possible for you to work against Him. But it’s not possible for God to forget about you (Isaiah 49:16). It’s not possible for Him to give up on you. It’s not possible for Him to quit.
I am sure that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on that day when Christ Jesus comes back again. Philippians 1:6, emphasis added
If you’re the lamb that has wandered off, the Shepherd is coming for you (Matthew 18:14). If you are a lost child, He’s watching the road for your return (Luke 15:20). God is faithful – He can’t break His promise. So He cannot stop loving you. This means He’ll finish the work. He’ll ensure that nothing separates Him from His beloved.
Then God will rejoice over you as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride. Isaiah 62:7