Shades of Eden.

This matter of finding the path or paths to God sounds a bit like Adam and Eve’s challenge, doesn’t it?

It seems that, in a sense, the Garden of Eden is replayed in each of our lives… God says, “Here is a variety of things to enjoy, food to eat, places to go, materials to work with. Go and experience the results of My creative mind and handiwork. Invent. Enjoy. Explore the vast universe.

“But in the matter of relationship to Me… in the search for a path to Me… know that there is One Way. And you must choose Him, My Son Jesus, or you will die in your sins."

Ah, but there is a crafty serpent in each of our gardens, is there not? “Did God really say ‘There is no other way? Surely this is what He meant…” And he opens our eyes to many paths, appealing to our broadmindedness and sentimentality. “Choices are good!” he hisses.

Or are they?…

Sylvia Fox, missionary to Central Africa, came home on furlough after years of service, and stayed awhile with her mother. Sylvia described a part of the cultural adjustment this way: “I begged my mother not to send me to the supermarket. The vast array on the shelves was just staggering. Especially the cereal aisle. There were just too many choices.”

I think most of us deal with the multitude of choices by filtering them. There are whole aisles I ignore in grocery stores, because I don’t need anything there. And I’ll often reach automatically for the brand I prefer, without considering the similar options surrounding it.

Sometimes, oddly enough, this seems helpful to others. I stood at the Giant Eagle deli a few months ago, waiting while the lady shaved the roast beef I buy nearly every week. She piled it onto the machine to weigh and price it, then sealed it and handed it to me. The next customer in line stood watching. As I walked away I heard the man say to the deli clerk, “I’ll have some of what she had.”

When we make a decisive choice to follow Jesus, there will be people watching. When we affirm that He is the only way, there will be people listening. Some will ridicule and some will be enraged. But for the sake of the one who is standing nearby still making up his or her mind, we must not waver. Our clear choice may, by the power of the Spirit, move them to step up and say, “I’ll choose what they chose. It’s exactly what I need.”

So especially for that reason I re-affirm today with 19th century poet Christine Rosetti:

None other Lamb, none other Name,
None other hope in Heav’n or earth or sea,
None other hiding place from guilt and shame,
None beside Thee!

My faith burns low, my hope burns low;
Only my heart’s desire cries out in me
By the deep thunder of its want and woe,
Cries out to Thee.

Lord, Thou art Life, though I be dead;
Love’s fire Thou art, however cold I be:
Nor Heav’n have I, nor place to lay my head,
Nor home, but Thee.