I Have My Rights

If there is one thing that recent history has taught me, it is that human beings hate being told what to do. We are really good at finding out what the limits are and then figuring out ways to exceed those limits. In some ways it has been helpful. Minorities, given limited roles and opportunities because of the color of their skin, have found ways to break some of those barriers and exceed those limits. Women, restricted in the corporate ladder because of their gender, have found ways to shatter those ceilings. In some ways our rebellious nature has been helpful. Helpful, but only healthy in the sense that we must not take the same mentality toward limitations men have placed on us and apply them to the limitations that God has placed on all of humanity.

Enter Adam and Eve. After the Garden was created and Adam was commissioned to work and keep the space God had created for them, God gave the duo a commandment.

Genesis 2:16–17 ESV

16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, 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.”

What is particularly striking when we view the occurence of the fall in hindsight, is the fact that God gave them so much freedom and yet they did the single thing God told them not to do. Until this point, this was the only restriction that God had placed on them. Think about it. Two people had all of creation at their disposal, except this one tree. God had even allowed Adam to name the creatures that walked on the earth. But Adam and Eve did the one thing God told them not to do. Unfortunately, this is not just an Adam and Eve problem. It is a problem that plagues all of us. We struggle everyday with this idea that we ought to be able to do whatever makes us happy. Faith makes us different in that our mentality shifts towards whatever makes God happy. Faith makes us different, but faith does not make us perfect. We have faith, yet we still struggle with the urge to explore what is beyond those limits.

So how do we fix this inherent desire to disregard the limits that God have placed on us? Our faith should spur us to do what pleases God and to refrain from anything that displeases him. What are some steps that we can take to arrive at such faith? Enjoy the freedoms that God has blessed us with, and respect the limitations that he has imposed on us.