Friday 18 May 2018

May 18: Genesis 3:16-19

Key Verse: Genesis 3:17
To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’ “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life.

Devotion:
When was the last time you were caught out doing something you really should not have been doing? I’m not talking about something like talking in class, but something a bit more drastic, something you would rather not have to tell other people about… How did you feel at that moment of being caught? Can you remember how it felt like the blood drained totally out of your head? Can you remember the dry feeling in your mouth? How about your brain? Did it seem to suddenly go into neutral and there was just nothing you could do? I can remember a few moments like that in my life…

What sort of punishment did you have to face for what you did? Adam and Eve had to face up to the ultimate authority, an authority previously with whom they had been able to commune with, been able to walk with and talk with. And yet now they had to face up to admitting that the one thing they had been told not to do, had just been done!

When we are placed into a position of trust, the last thing we would want to do is to break that trust. Unfortunately, there is one who is more than willing to encourage us into breaking every trust at every conceivable moment. We always have to be on our guard against him and always have to try and make sure what we are doing is God’s will on not his will. We do not always think of the consequences of doing things and we most certainly do not think of them when we are having fun – that is going to be our weakest point, the point at which we will be tempted by the greatest tempter of all…

Because of our sins (and no, you cannot blame it all on Eve because we are the ones who continue to sin) we have been condemned to a life that is nothing like that which Adam first knew. For all intents and purposes, it is like we are in prison! It does not take much to turn your life around, so you can at least get out on parole!

Points to Ponder:
When did you last get caught out?

Do you think you have got away with it just because no human saw you?