Eve Was An Idiot

Eve had it all.  She had the beauty of the garden to call her home, the man of her dreams walking hand and hand with her just enjoying life, and the God of the Universe loving her and taking care of her every need.  Everything in the garden was hers for the taking except one thing - the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.  God said, "Don't eat of this tree or you shall surely die."  Uh, well that's pretty clear, isn't it?  I don't see a lot of room for misinterpretation there!  So, God said she would die from eating it and Satan said "You won't die.  Go ahead and eat it."  Eve convinced herself that death would not come upon her.  In fact, this forbidden tree became something so desirable that the thought of immediate gratification drowned out any fear of future consequences.  She was sure she could "handle it."  God surely wouldn't want her to miss out on something so pleasing and life-changing.  Eve for the most part was an idiot.  I used to think that I would never have given in to this temptation, but I've proven time and time again that I would.

One thing that comes to mind is my gluttonous behavior I exhibited for most of my life. A glutton is someone who eats and drinks too much and that pretty much summed me up.  Day after day, meal after meal, I would eat to my every whim.  I would display no discretion and I packed on the pounds.  Fully knowing that my father died of a massive heart attack at an early age and his father died of a massive heart attack, I continued to overeat believing that God would satisfy me with long life.  Softly and gently the Holy Spirit would talk to my heart and say "You need to submit this to me.  You are not on a good track right now.  You should judge yourself in this area."  But like Eve, I would twist God's words and think "surely God wouldn't want me to pass up this homemade cheesecake right now.  After all, it's my Aunt's birthday and it's a special occasion.  It's just ONE piece of cheesecake.  I'm not going to keel over and die from it for heaven's sake!"  That immediate gratification of partaking of something I wanted right in that moment was overwhelmingly satisfying! It became a habit and a continual cycle of disobedience with the twist that God loves me and I won't die early because of this.  

Being overweight was a weakness I had forever and I had convinced myself that I would probably never overcome it.  I'll never forget the day when I realized that I would never be able to lose the weight in my own power.  To make a very long story short, God gave me a healthy eating plan that worked and I have veered very little from it for the past year.  It has been so amazing!  With a loss of sixty six pounds, I have never been healthier in my life.  Thank you, Lord!

I think some of us have certain sins in our lives that have become our weaknesses.  However, we've allowed the devil to convince us, like Eve, that somehow they are not a sin at all.  In fact, we are convinced that God WANTS us to do the exact OPPOSITE of what He said not to do.   I've seen fellow Christians partaking in fornication, adultery, drunkenness, homosexuality, carousing, unforgiveness, lying, etc. and absolutely have no problem with it although God CLEARLY says in his Word NOT to do it.  However, when God says not to do something, it's because He knows the big picture.  He is our creator and He knows what is good for us and He knows what will hurt us.  He was trying to protect Eve when He told her not to eat of the fruit of that tree.  He wanted to protect me from dying an early death and I thank God He allowed me to see that!  He wants to protect us all!