Don’t Be Surprised if you get tempted……

 

I heard a man speak about this verse and say something that struck my curiosity…..so I went in and read this verse from Genesis:

 

Genesis 3  2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 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.’ ”

4 “You will not surely die,” the serpent said to the woman. 5 “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

6 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.

 

Why did God make two trees?  And why did He make the second tree “pleasing to the eye” and “good for food”?

 

And why was she being tempted?

 

For some, this is a hard pill to swallow.  But if we think about it….it is the most fundamental freedom we could ever be given—the freedom to choose…..or not to choose.

 

Adam and Eve made the wrong choice…..and, because of that one choice, so do we.

 

You see…..we are not sinners because we sin…..

 

It is just the opposite.

 

We sin…..because we are sinners.

 

The reality of life is not easy…..but it is simple:

 

Sin is appealing.

 

It will draw on our hearts and minds and desires.

 

It will beckon us even when it is not our own mind leading us there.

 

And it will sometimes draw our gaze and our thoughts.

 

But what is appealing in first view is not what it seems to be……..when it rears its ugly head it is coupled with shame and darkness and pain.

 

If the enemy can take Hope and Vision and Truth and Light …. he will.  And the very thing that he has made look enticing is the vehicle that he uses to destroy.

 

The homeless man never said:  I want to someday sleep in an alley and be so addicted to vodka that I would give up food and everyone I love to get it….

 

The prostitute never said:  I want to be used and looked at as an object.  Discarded and thrown away when he gets what he wants.

 

The thief never started out saying:  I want to hurt other people so that I can be on top and chase to fill a bag that will never be full.

 

And yet ….. Here we are.

 

Tempted.  Broken.  Hurting.  Desiring of Love.  Wanting for something more.

 

  • Jesus said that where your treasure is….that is where your heart will be.  Matthew 6:21

  • He said that we will thirst, but that whoever would thirst for Him would never be thirsty again.  John 4

  • He said that He could form a path for us into something greater, that He was the way and the truth and the life.  John 14

 

You can search the whole world over and not find ANYTHING even remotely like this offer made by a man 2000 years ago.

 

So don’t be surprised when you get tempted.

 

You will just have to choose whether you want to run to the darkness…..or the light.

 

In The Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

 

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Coach J