#22 Amazing Grace

The Book of Genesis Day 22 Ge 2:16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, "Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; 17 "but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die." I love the use of the word “freely” here. Why? Because it wasn’t necessary to use it! Go ahead, take it out of the passage and read it without “freely.” (make sure you put it back though, we don’t want to be messing with the Word of God! De 4:2 says, "You shall not add to the word which I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you.” Adding and subtracting from the words of the Bible is not a good idea.) My point is, that the inclusion of the word “freely,” matters. The word in the Hebrew language means “gratis.” And gratis means “without charge or free.” Hmmmmm, kind of sounds like grace doesn’t it? It’s like God is even here, at the very beginning, reminding us and Adam of His amazing grace! This Garden was just like His Son Jesus…full of grace. “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” (Jn 1:14) This fruit was all that Adam needed for his physical survival, and this grace is what we all need for our spiritual survival. Eph 2:8,9 says, “ For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast.” The fruit of the Garden was sufficient for Adam, God’s grace is sufficient for you and I (2 Cor 12:9) God’s instructions to Adam were simple. He was to tend the garden and keep it. He could freely eat of all the fruit in the garden except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. To eat of this fruit would introduce death into God’s perfect world. Sin, simply put, is disobeying God, and sin entered the world when Eve took and ate of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The Bible tells us in Rom 6:23, that “the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” “Gift of God,” it’s freely given, and pictured for us in the original Garden. So that when law and sin entered the picture, we may all be assured of the abundance of God’s grace, freely available to all who turn to the Lord Jesus Christ. Are you trapped in your sins? Receive the gift of Jesus Christ “freely” offered to you, and live on God’s grace! Reflect: Have you ever received something for free? Was it easy or hard to receive it? Have you ever received something for free, only to find out there are strings attached? Has God attached strings to His offer of salvation through faith in Jesus? Why is it difficult to receive His offer? Pray: Father, thank You for this reminder of the abundance of Your grace from the very beginning. Help me to receive it, without attaching my own little strings. Let me ever praise You for this free gift that cost You, Your only begotten Son.