Welcome to the launch of Buoy, a Life in Deeper Water podcast.
Episode 2. Free Will is Planted in Your Garden
Hello human.
(click here to listen)
God Made Adam in His Likeness
Enter God. Aka The Creator.
God creates Adam.
God is pleased.
God tells Adam all about the garden that is his to rule over.
God sees Adam needs a companion.
God creates Eve out of Adam’s rib.
This all happened in the Garden of Eden, a real place.
In this Garden, there was a tree that could cause death.
But only God knew that.
Until He told Adam.
So here is how it went down according to Genesis:
“Then God said, ‘Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground. So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.”−Genesis 1:26-27).
God created us in His image, physical like the animals but with a spirit in His image so we can have a spiritual relationship with Him. He could have created minions, but He didn’t. He created us in His likeness. Because there was no sin in the beginning, it was one big beautiful masterpiece.
Adam and Eve had many choices in the garden. God gave them freedom to name animals, tend and grow the earth and enjoy the bounty of all of it. They had freedom to eat from any tree, but with one tree, He commanded they must not eat from it, that if they eat the fruit, the consequence would be death.
According to Genesis, this is how that went down:
16 “And the LORD God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; 17 but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.”−Genesis 2:16-17
God gave them freedom to eat from any tree, but what was God really commanding Adam to do? Remember that Eve had not been created yet.
God had knowledge about the forbidden tree that Adam did not have. He was Creator. Wasn’t God asking Adam and Eve to trust Him. Being obedient to God’s command required trust. They had no knowledge of that tree, no experience from eating that fruit. They were asked to trust their Creator, that the best decision was to not eat from that tree.
The garden choice was this: trusting God’s word. Or trusting self.
The garden fall was this: choosing trust in self. The choice to eat from the forbidden tree was the origin act of disobedience. Their disobedience brought moral discernment into that garden. The choice between trusting God and trusting self. Humanity fell away from God at that moment. That’s how I see it.
(click here to listen)
God Gives Us a Choice
God gives us the choice about what we believe because we are made in His image. He dignifies our spirit with freedom to choose. He wants a relationship.
Just as He did with Adam and Eve.
Follow His Son. Or not.
It is a clear choice.
It is what I call the origin choice.
I find this very empowering.
When I have weak moments, escalating and multiplying into hours, days, weeks. When I am thrown down by my self-absorbed human nature, I know I can go back to my origin choice. I can go back to the garden of Kathryn and say this:
I am following His Son. When I don’t know what else to say, think or feel, I say:I am following His Son. I give my trust, my free will to God again. And again. And again.
I do not ever have a moment when I don’t have that choice to believe. When I stop and commit to what I believe, my heart opens up to His persuasion.
That’s the swim.
When I was in high school, during summer breaks sometimes we would forego the swimming pool scene for a small lake on the outskirts of let’s just call it, smalltown USA. The cool thing about that lake was a floating platform out in the center of it.
You had to swim to it.
It was farther out than it looked. I remember the first time I made the water trek. I remember how difficult it was once I got to the platform to hoist my entire body weight up onto it. With jelly for arms and legs, struggling for a decent breath, prey to splinters and spiders. What a moment. Yet, diving off and going back to shore took hardly any effort. I always wondered about that.
The kids who made the swim would hang out on the floating platform for hours—basking, diving, throwing each other in, daydreaming to the sound of lapping water, taking in the 360 degree view. While others thought about the swim from shore, wading back and forth in six inches of water.
This must have been my first BUOY experience.
My first act of free will as a believer is to hear and open the door. Jesus says in Revelation 3:20, “‘Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.'”
God Roots Ran Deep from an Early Age
God roots ran deep in my life from an early age. I grew up in a tight-knit Christian community. Church on Sundays and Wednesdays, praying before meals, having the same friends I saw at school, at church, around town was normal. I attended vacation Bible School for two weeks at the end of school every year through 6th grade. Memorized verses along with all my friends. God was like my grandpa, a heavenly grandpa. He was part of my daily life in all the ordinary things. I never wondered if He really existed.
And I didn’t suspect that the rest of the world might be different.
I never rebelled to any level of wild-girl acclaim in my early years, but I went through high school very driven and distracted by many interests. God was not one of them, He was not front and center. He was barely in the room. I did not have a personal relationship with Jesus. When I was a jr in college (19-20) the confluence of my undergraduate work, majoring in English and Religion, and my Christian friends, came together for me. I gave my life to Jesus as Lord of my life. I was baptized and claimed ownership of my walk as a follower of Jesus.
This was my origin choice.
It was just the beginning. My walk got trickier, by my own willful demise. But that moment of being “born of God” is what I want to share. Regardless of how my childhood laid a foundation, I still had to personally claim it when I was ready to. We all do.
Free Will is Planted in every Human Garden
In episode 1 I shared that the definition of the Greek word for faith (pistis) is God’s divine persuasion for the believer. It makes sense that to be persuaded we must be willing to hear the case, to weigh the evidence. But how do we take our place on the jury of believers? Paul tells us what to say and believe in Romans 10:9-10
Confess with your mouth: Jesus is Lord.
Believe: In your heart.
When we confess and believe, when we are born of God what happens?
John says in 1 John 5:4: “For everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith.”
Just like that? How do believers overcome the world? The faith of the believer is the victory that overcomes. The Greek word for victory is nike. While that’s familiar to everyone in a consumer-driven culture, this is not just any victory, or some personal best we might set for ourselves, given the right athletic shoes.
It refers to a conquest. Not just any conquest but a conquest resulting from obeying the faith Christ imparts.
Free will is a precious gift from God, for it lets us own that move, to love him with our “whole heart”— in earthly terms, skin in the game. I bring my Psalm 139-self to God and love Him as I have been created to do.
When asked by the Pharisees, which is the greatest commandment of them all:
37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’”−Matthew 22:37
We live in the power of Christ’s love because we choose to.
God’s divine persuasion−the depth at which we know Him−is the revelation of Him in our lives. Simply, our faith is our witness. And we are called to bear witness to His divine revelation in our lives. God created man for the purpose of relationship and He has given us free will to assure the integrity and intent of that relationship.
My Faith is Defined by God’s Divine Persuasion
In Episode 1 I shared the first of three personal affirmations for this launch:
Affirmation #1: My faith is solely defined by God’s divine persuasion in my life.
And today, Affirmation #2: I swim in deeper water, by my own free will.
I am a type A human by the world’s standards. I like control. I like deliberated choice. I do not give my life to Jesus under coercion, via strong-arm tactics, bribery, blackmail, or extortion … There are many other earthly choices—lucrative, deceiving, compelling choices that appeal so effortlessly to my human nature. But all in vain, clothed in vanity’s best dress.
God gave me the agency to understand what I am doing, take ownership of it, along with the consequences that following Jesus will bring. I do not do it alone. For sure. But I turn toward Him out of my free will.
This is what I bring to His ocean. I am free to love Him. I am free to follow His Son.
I take pride in my decision.
And this is not the only time I will tell those of you who may not know.
God gave you this gift too. Free will is planted in your garden.
Maybe you are someone who has never felt you had any choice. Circumstance has ruled your mindset and defined your story.
So much comes after we make this choice. But this choice, our choice, your choice, my choice to believe is the single most important decision we will ever make. The first move for every single human. It defines the terms of eternal life for each of us.
We are free to follow.
Who was First to Follow Jesus?
Join me for Episode 3, part three of our BUOY launch. As we say in the OBX, through the strong currents, breaking waves and shifting shoals of the Oregon Inlet—we make the decision to follow, and head out to sea.
Our leading question: So who was first to follow Jesus?
(click here to listen)
His grace. My gratitude.
See ya on the Buoy.
I encourage you to speak up human. If Buoy brings value to you take a moment to share it with someone. Write a quick review so we reach more seekers. Comment, ask questions.
You can find me at kathrynbise.com and @buoykathrynb on Instagram.
Buoy is a Life in Deeper Water podcast.
Music: Both of Us – Madirfan