Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

Today a friend passed me a funny meme on Facebook that read, “If Adam and Eve had been Cajuns, they would have eaten the snake instead of the apple and saved us all a lot of trouble.”

My friends from the deep south would find this humorous and totally, not be offended.

Our current Bible study is in Genesis and we have been exploring and clearing up all kinds of misconceptions. For example,many people think Eve was by herself when the serpent came to her in the garden.

Genesis 2:6 tells us, “So she took some of its fruit and ate it; and she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.”

Adam was right there with her. And although she was deceived, it did not absolve her from her responsibility to trust God and do what He said. In addition, it has been suggested that Satan had to be in the garden; otherwise man would not have the choice to choose between obeying God and disobeying God. However, the reality and truth of the matter- Satan lived in “perfect heaven,” with perfect God. He chose, to rebel against God.

He was created with free will just like Adam and Eve. They were all able to choose how they would respond to God’s instructions. They all had a choice.

Nothing has changed. We still have free will to choose. As Christ followers we make choices every day. Will we choose to obey God or choose to disobey God?

In Joshua 25:15, tells us to choose this day who we will serve. Mark 16:16 says, “Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.”

God does not force us to follow Him. He is a gentleman and gives us opportunity to make our own choices.

As we continue to move forward in 2021, may we remember that God desires what is best for us, and loves us so much; that He laid down his life to save us from our bad decisions, from our unfortunate circumstances and from any kind of crime.

He still loves us and desires to have a relationship with us. After all, He chose us first that we might be able to choose Him (I John 4:19).

Yvette Perrin is a columnist for The Charlotte Gazette. She can be reached at theword2yvette@gmail.com.