Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings.
Genesis 3: 7 NKJV
Recently, I decided to try a challenge and give up processed sugars for at least two weeks. I'll be doing my readings by recording my weight before and after my trial. As I sit here on the beginning of day number one, I already have doubts as to if I will be able to make it. I guess that's only natural when we head into something unfamiliar. This situation is important for two reasons. First, it is important for my overall health. Second, it gives me the opportunity to speak to something which we all have faced from time to time. That is, the allure of behaviors or habits which we know are wrong, yet we indulge in them anyway. I am well aware that highly processed sugars are bad for my health, yet I return to them every now and then. I'll admit that I have gotten better at ignoring them, but somehow they still hold a place in my life. Why is that? Why is it that we continue to hold onto habits we know to be destructive? Well, as near can tell, we always seem to gravitate to what feels good for ourselves. It's that simple. I recall a phrase I've heard from time to time that "if it feels good...do it!" Do you think that you would ever hear God utter those words to us? Perhaps. However, I'm guessing that those things which we might see as well and good for ourselves also come with a warning from the Lord. I used to see pornography as something a man did. God never saw it that way {Matthew 5:28, 1 Corinthians 6:18}. I knew that pornography was wrong, but like a old friend I kept returning to it because it felt good at the time. Sweet to the taste, yet bitter to the end. I know that there are many more out there who, like me, desired all the things which we felt were good. The alcoholic who is willing to do anything for one more drink. The drug addict who thinks nothing of losing everything as long as he gets his last fix. I can honestly say that I have never been addicted to alcohol or drugs, but I've still felt the pull of what I was addicted to at the time. When old friends would come to visit.
I don't need to punish people for sin. Sin is it's own punishment, devouring you from the inside. It's not My purpose to punish it; it's My joy to cure it.
~Wm P. Young, The Shack
A good friend once told me that Satan the accuser was sort of like the minions of animation movie fame. Even after we have accepted and come to know Christ in our heart, the minions would continue to come around and remind us of the good times we once shared. Do you understand that? Even though you have Jesus in your heart, that never stops Satan from continuing to drag you back into the life you once lived. That will never change I'm afraid. The accuser will not stop attempting to pull you away from Christ, it's what he does. Interestingly, could this Satan connection be the key to our continuing to engage in bad behavior? Well, what is it that he said to Eve in the garden when she told him that God had warned against eating the forbidden fruit? "You will surely not die" {Genesis 3:4}. Satan even goes so far as to perpetuate the lie that if Eve were to eat of the fruit which the Lord had told her not to, that she would, "Be like God" {Genesis 3:5}. Really? Who wouldn't want to be like God? So, Adam and Eve gave into the lie of Satan and took of the fruit. However, what Eve did not realize in that moment was that she was ALREADY like God. It was God who had breathed the breath of life into her {Genesis 2:7}. Adam and Eve were as much a part of the Lord as they could be. Yet, they did not realize this because all they knew was their relationship with God in the garden. You could say that when it came to Satan's lies that they were ripe for the picking. We can see the results of Satan's antics in the history of our own creation. Let me tell you, he hasn't changed. The accuser will continue to come around and remind you of the times you spent in bad behavior. His ultimate goal is to drive a wedge between ourselves and God. However, the truth shall set you free. The truth that we are already one with Christ {Galatians 2:20}. Satan cannot convince me that God has no need for me, because I realize that I live as Jesus. As far as those times where he reminds me of my past? Well, sometimes old friends are better forgotten.
Thus they became conscious of the opposites through the attraction of the Tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The good is a self which expresses God and the other-love; the evil is a self which expresses Satan and self loving love. They became expressers of their Satan-father's self-for-self nature, Satan's seed {Genesis 3:15}.
~Norman P. Grubb, No Independent Self
~Scott~
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