Pleasure Now...Pay Later

"Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”
The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”

“You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves." Genesis 3: 1-7

Here we have the infamous story of the downfall of humanity - Adam and Eve plunging the good creation of God into sin and brokenness. Everything from earthquakes, tsunamis, cancer, betrayal, broken relationships, murder, injustice, war, death, famine (all of it and everything more that is wrong) can all be traced back to this very scene in Genesis.

I am not sure what was going through Eve's mind as she was deftly tempted by the serpent, but her (and Adam's) simple act of disobedience wrecked everything - and I for one am not pleased with them.

Here they were in the perfection of the Garden of Eden - paradise. They lived in perfect relational communion with their Creator. They were given the authority to work and care for the creation. There was no hurt or pain, or sickness or disease. And they were given all kinds of food to eat - in fact they could eat to their hearts content from every tree, except the one. I mean, they had EVERYTHING, and only one simple rule to adhere to - don't eat the fruit from the one tree.

Yet, that is exactly what they did. They spurned perfection, and eternal bliss with God because they just had to sample the one thing they were not to eat. It's as if for that brief moment their brains ceased to function. I am not sure what else to think about the story and why they did it. Why else would you seek a temporary forbidden pleasure, something that you know you shouldn't do, something you know will carry long term consequences...rather than simply stay the course - obey God and enjoy His perfect presence and bliss forever.

Of course, we can't relate to Adam and Eve, right? We never have moments in our lives when a temptation overwhelms our common sense. Surely we would never succumb to a sinful disobedience because it would give us a momentary bit of sensory pleasure even though we knew it would be harmful to us and carry with it negative consequences. We always choose to stay the course with God - obey Him and enjoy Him forever, don't we?

The reality is, that it is not too hard to see ourselves in this story. I would like to think that were I in their situation I would have done differently - but if I am honest with myself, I am not sure that I could say that with any sort of confidence. Much to my shame, I, all too often, choose the momentary sinful indulgence, over the eternal faithfulness to God.

Perhaps Adam and Eve are not the only ones to blame for the broken mess we find ourselves in - could it be that I too have played a part?

May God show us grace and forgiveness, and give us the strength by His Spirit to avoid temptation and choose instead, faithful obedience to Him.

Be God's, Scott