a child of god
this is the way, run in it
Genesis, chapter 3. We have just read in chapters 1 & 2 about the beauty of God creating everything - the universe, the sun, moon and stars, the earth, and all that lives on it and in it, including us - human beings - made in God's image.
We could stop right there and ponder that for a while, profitably. Made in God's image, His love and care for us demonstrated in how He created us, male and female, in His image. Made for God and for each other. Adam and Eve, the first man and woman, given the Garden of Eden to live and work in, God to walk and talk with, life. And then sin rears its ugly head. The devil, through the serpent - one of the animals God created - comes and speaks with Eve. The first thing he does is to raise doubt in her mind. "Did God really say that?" (Ch 3, v.1). Eve replies, yes, He did. And then repeats what God said about the one tree being forbidden for Adam and Eve to eat from. The devil then lies, but he mixes his lie with truth, which was tricky of him. He says, "You shall surely not die!" Lie. Then he says, "For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God knowing good and evil." Truth. And Eve was tempted. She was tempted to give that tree another look, falling under the sin of the lust of the flesh "seeing that the tree was good for food" and she wanted some. She was tempted by the lust of the eyes, "she saw that it was a delight to the eyes" and she wanted to reach out and touch it, and she was tempted by the pride of life "and that the tree was desirable to make one wise." And so Eve gave in to temptation, reached out, took the fruit, ate of it and gave it to Adam and he ate also. And the first two people ever created by God disobeyed Him and sinned. Then the blame game ensues. Adam blames Eve, Eve blames the serpent, and all three have to face the consequences - as do we - as sin has entered the world. Now the good bit in this situation is that God made a way for Adam and Eve, for all human beings, to be made clean from sin and able to have fellowship with Him again. God always makes a way for us - but He requires us to choose Him, to choose to accept the forgiveness and mercy He extends to us. We can't have our apple and eat it too. It's either God or no God and an eternity separated from Him. But it is our choice. When Cain sins and kills his brother Able, the first murder, in Chapter 4, what makes me really sad is that when he cries out to God and complains about his punishment, he didn't say "I'm sorry" to God, he didn't say "I don't care what you do to punish me, just don't make me leave you." No, Cain was only interested in saving his own hide. He was worried someone else would kill him. I find that really sad. God doesn't get chosen by Cain, by Adam and Eve in the garden, although the bible seems to indicate that Adam and Eve have a restored relationship with God outside the Garden of Eden. And what makes me sad is when I don't choose God over things I want, or things I want to do, or. . . God is worth anything and everything. Until we realize how dark life is without Him, we sometimes don't understand the necessity of choosing Him. Maybe that is what the sin in the Garden of Eden revealed to Adam and Eve. God was better than that apple. God was better than hiding in the bushes ashamed and knowing they had sinned and were going to be punished. Until we realize that the lie mixed in with the bit of truth that we believed is a lie - we can't do something about it. In a world where there is sin, where there are lies mixed in with truth, we need to be able to discern the difference between lies and truth, and God wants us to choose to follow the Truth - Jesus Christ, His Son, our Savior. And He's given us His Word and His Spirit to help us discern what is right and what is wrong, and choose Him every time. Praise Him.
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Franci Ballwatching and working for the kingdom of God in Sutton Coldfield, Birmingham - UK Archives
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