Tasteful Temptation

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.