Wednesday, April 18, 2018
The serpent
was the shrewdest of all the wild animals the Lord God had made. One
day he asked the woman, “Did God really say you must not eat the fruit from any
of the trees in the garden?” “Of course
we may eat fruit from the trees in the garden,” the woman replied. “It’s only the fruit from the tree in the
middle of the garden that we are not allowed to eat. God said, ‘You must not eat it or even touch
it; if you do, you will die.’” “You
won’t die!” the serpent replied to the woman.
“God knows that your eyes will be opened as soon as you eat it, and you
will be like God, knowing both good and evil.”
The woman was convinced. She saw
that the tree was beautiful and its fruit looked delicious, and she wanted the
wisdom it would give her. So she took
some of the fruit and ate it. Then she
gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it, too. At that moment their eyes were opened, and
they suddenly felt shame at their nakedness. So they sewed fig leaves together to cover
themselves. When the cool evening
breezes were blowing, the man and his wife heard the Lord God
walking about in the garden. So they hid
from the Lord God among the trees.
Then the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?” He replied, “I heard you walking in the
garden, so I hid. I was afraid because I
was naked.” “Who told you that you were
naked?” the Lord God asked. “Have
you eaten from the tree whose fruit I commanded you not to eat?” The man replied, “It was the woman you gave
me who gave me the fruit, and I ate it.”
Then the Lord God asked the woman, “What have you done?” “The serpent deceived me,” she replied.
“That’s why I ate it.” Genesis 3:1-13(NLT)
Fight or flight are not the only weapons of response to attack in the human arsenal;
there is always deflect which is what Adam and Eve did first. Adam deflected guilt for his sin towards Eve;
Eve kicked the can down the road to the serpent. After all, why suffer accountability when you
can blame someone else? And so it goes!
Humans, even
little humans caught with their pudgy little hands in the cookie jar, have
always denied responsibility. It is a
mark of insecurity and immaturity to always find an excuse for what we have
done wrong. Just like politicians put spin
on an event in order to cast themselves as if standing on higher ground, so all
people play that game in everyday life.
Even our legal
system, based upon Judeo-Christian values and ancient ethical systems of
justice, has developed such intricacies of proving/disavowing guilt or
innocence over the past two centuries, the loopholes make it almost impossible
to arrive at reasonable doubt or outright acquittal any more. We are not only a society of don’t
ask-don’t tell, we have become a people of vague shadow and nothing
but questions. The whole idea of absolute
truth has become laughable in 21st century culture. Is it any wonder the Scriptures are held up
to scrutiny by people who haven’t even read the Bible, much less thought deeply
over its claims? We, as a species, are
working hard at letting ourselves off the hook with God by reason of mental
disease or defect – somebody else dropped us on our collective head when we
weren’t looking, so it’s not our fault; case dismissed!
But none of that
excuses anything when it comes to our accountability before God. Holy Scripture doesn’t stumble over that one:
For everyone has sinned;
we all fall short of
God’s glorious standard. Romans 3:23(NLT)
For You Today
A Thought to Live By:
A person might
begin to disbelieve that air exists, or is necessary for life. That’s completely illogical, given the
history of biological existance of every human and mamal ever to draw
breath. And neither does the strong
conviction that oxygen is a myth change the reality that it will still fill
your lungs and carry life through your body.
In the same way, a
person’s belief or disbelief in God, and that God has prior claims on our life,
will mean nothing to the reality that He IS…and He
DOES hold us accountable for the way we live.
No comments:
Post a Comment