Edith loves her job.  The hours are great, the environment friendly and the pay handsome enough to purchase most anything she wants.  She often wonders how she was fortunate enough to be in her position, but quickly dismisses the thought for fear of jinxing her dream job.

Edith has a slew of tasks to complete–all assignments she completely loves.  She pulls out her favorite work pen and gets hopping.  Ah, her work pen.  Yes, she knows it is trivial, but she sure does like that pen.  Not like the leaky ones at home or the ones that only wrote at their will.  Oh no.  This is the real deal.  Words just flow out whenever she holds it.

“Hmmm, maybe I’ll just take this one home,” Edith thinks to herself.  “I know there are more just like it in the supply closet.”

She grabs the sacred writing instrument, throws it in her handbag and makes her way to the supply closet.

“What am I doing?” she momentarily questions.  “I can’t steal this.”

“Oh come on, Edith,” her alter-ego shouts out.  “It’s just a pen.”

Edith goes home that night and pulls the ballpoint out of her purse.  Somehow even doing something as mundane as paying bills with it seems more enjoyable.

Edith is surprised to see her boss waiting at her desk early the next morning.

“Ms. Jones, I’m sorry, but we’ll need to let you go…..”

Yes, I know I’m on the brink of sounding extremely legalistic, yet I oftentimes find myself in this mental situation and I desperately want to scream out

“BUT IT WAS JUST A PEN.”

Or, in Eve’s defense, “it was a bite of fruit.  Fruit.  Not even chocolate.  Fruit.  Maybe even one of those tart kinds that aren’t very good.  Why did everything have to change as a result of one teeny bite?

I rationalize her actions because I somehow want to make mine look better, too.  “It was just a white lie.”  “I’ll only cheat this once.”  “Its just. . . “  The excuses start to fly and before I know it, apple juice trickles down my chin.  Perhaps all of mankind forever feels the effects of my one seemingly minute action.  Or more likely, I think I’ve gotten away with something or even convince myself it was all right in the first place.

If you have a few minutes, I’d recommend watching Casting Crown’s video to “Slow Fade.”  Look for the many “justs” in it.  Just a glimpse.  Just a phone call.  Just a. . .

Ladies, this is the year.  Let’s turn our “justs” around.

So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him.”  Colossians 2:6, emphasis mine

Eve scares me. We have too much in common.

No doubt about it, she’s fully educated on what’s right. “God did say…” (Gen. 3:3). But the fruit looked good, and the promised wisdom irresistible. In the briefest of moments, the hard truth flew out the window in lieu of soft compromise, set up by a series of seemingly insignificant justifications. Read all of Genesis 3, if you don’t believe me.

Eve’s story could just as easily be my personal biography. How many times have I ended up sick to my stomach because I came up with creative ways to justify a little tasteful temptation? I’m an expert at excuses. The truth is, we all are.

We permit gossip under the guise of concern.

We flirt with infidelity because “God wants me to be happy.”

We justify a judgmental spirit in an exercise of standing up for what’s right.

We disrespect in the spirit of being honest about our feelings.

We savor unforgiveness because we “have a right to be angry.”

We’re stingy with love because we can’t condone wrong behavior.

We feast on self-indulgence because, after all, “life is short.”

Eve didn’t set out to blatantly disobey God. I doubt she woke up that morning with any clue that it would be her last sunrise in the garden. But a series of small decisions, which SHE MADE, including allowing one very unhealthy relationship with a snake, led her right out of the garden of true intimacy and into a world of harsh reality.

Every morning we wake up with the opportunity to move toward the garden-like relationship with God or toward an existence based on half-truths and false intimacy. The path between the moment you wake up and the moment you go to sleep is littered with little, seemingly inconsequential decisions that will (REPEAT: WILL) set your course toward one destination or the other. Don’t be fooled into thinking a little tasteful temptation is harmless.

Truth fruit will feed your soul. The fake stuff, though sweet at the time, is poison.