Jesse Tree November 30 Sin
Sin reading: Genesis 3:6-7, 22-23
This is the day that sin entered the world. The day we ‘sold our soul to the Devil.’ They traded the truth for half-truths and outright lies.
I say ‘they’ here because we are told that Adam was with her when she took the fruit and ate it. Satan tricked Eve but Adam stood by while she wrestled with her decision. Once she made her decision Adam followed along with her.
Some people try and claim that Eve didn’t hear God’s instructions from His lips so she isn’t wholly responsible for her sin but we see earlier in her encounter that she quoted God’s command to the serpent. She KNEW what she was doing was against the explicit directives of God.
She didn’t understand the consequences of her actions. She had words for what it would cost but nothing to fit those words to. When Satan told her that those words that had kept her in line all this time were really something to be desired instead of feared, she was hooked! She desired to be like God. She desired to know good and evil. She DIDN’T desire to be separated from God.
Satan sold her a half-truth. And all it cost was her soul.
Adam didn’t understand the consequences of his action either. He KNEW firsthand that God said to leave this tree alone but his wife seemed fine and to have things well in hand. Who was he to argue? He never had reason before to separate himself from her or even question her actions. He clung to her and would follow wherever she led. He desired her above desiring to do what God had commanded. He DIDN’T desire to lose one relationship for the other.
Eve offered Adam her new half-truth. And all it cost was his soul.
I’m surprised that Satan didn’t also direct them to the Tree of Life. They needed that piece to in order to truly become as God. Maybe he didn’t want them THAT close to God. He wanted them knocked out of relationship with God and subject to him. He was NOT ‘improving’ their lives.
Adam and Eve had all that day to turn to the Tree of Life but they were so preoccupied with their nakedness that they missed it all together. They had the opportunity to turn back to God. I don’t know if it would have undone what they had done but it would have completed the ‘promise’ Satan had lured them with.
I have fallen into their trap many times before. One of my major pitfalls concerns food. I get so wrapped up in it that it dominates my thinking. Instead of turning to God to help me put it in its place, I fall face first into the cycle of unhealthy behaviors. And just like Adam and Eve, I hide.
I wonder what would have happened if Adam and Eve ran to God immediately instead of trying to hide their sin. Would God have forgiven them? Would Jesus’ sacrifice still have been necessary? Would their relationship have been restored? I don’t know the answer.
The beautiful thing is, what God separated man from in the Garden He restored to us in the form of His Son Jesus. God sent Him among us to give us life. Life that we could not attain with knowledge along. He gave us new life, if we reach out and grasp Him. DON’T ignore Him or wait too late like Adam and Eve did!
Father God, I’m glad I can come to You with my sin. Jesus restored our relationship with His sacrifice. I don’t have to hide my sin from You. You see it anyway, even when I try and hide it. Help me conquer my ‘desires’ and not give them a chance to send me scurrying for cover. Help me see the true consequences BEFORE reaching my hand out to the ‘forbidden fruit.’ Forgive me for all the times I chose sin over our relationship. Help me push sin FAR from my life. More each day than the last.
