YOU HAVE RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE GIFT

Reference text: Genesis 3:9-15

For starters, let’s establish the nature of God not just as good, but as goodness itself. Hence, as saint James wrote “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.” (James 1:17) There is therefore goodness underlying everything God gives us, and that includes His gifts: material gifts, spiritual gifts, and the gift of men.

Adam had been given the woman as a ‘helper’, which was God’s answer to ‘it was not good for the man to be alone’. (Gen 2:18) Inherently therefore, this decision had goodness at heart. However, notice when God comes asking Adam about the events that had transpired in the garden he responds: “The woman whom You gave me, she gave me fruit from the tree, and I ate it”(Gen 3:12).

In two breaths, Adam had named, the woman and indirectly God, as the reason behind his actions. Thus ‘if God had not given him the woman, she wouldn’t have offered him the fruit’. A seemingly plausible argument, but after all his words, Adam in his third breath says “and I ate it”- that was his choice.

Beloved, the gifts of God: whether material, spiritual or in men, come with some responsibility; this you cannot forget at any moment. There is always an “I” component to them which if ignored, could turn any good and perfect gift into a tool that drives a wedge between you and God.

#sly