Genesis 3: (The Fall)

Everyone knows the story. God creates boy and girl, boy meets girl, girl meets snake, and everything goes off the rails.

The first man and woman lived in a perfect harmony with God, and there was only one rule. “‘You must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die’” (Genesis 2:17). The serpent scoffed at Eve when she tells him this. “’You will not certainly die,’ the serpent says to the woman. ‘For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil’” (Genesis 3:4,5).

Eve, quickly followed by Adam, was tempted by the story the serpent told her. The forbidden fruit was eaten. And, like all effective lies, there was an element of truth in what the serpent said. They did gain knowledge about good and evil, but the consequences of betraying God, casting aside that relationship for the allure of a shiny new thing were catastrophic. The serpent left out that tiny little detail. 

This story in Genesis remains relevant. We, as sinners, still follow the trajectory of Eve. Shiny thing-allure-accept the lie as truth-live out the consequences. Today, we are bombarded with other types of “shiny things” that offer to make our lives better in some way. We don’t have a serpent speaking to us, but we have media, other people, society, and the world all clamoring for our attention, sometimes with empty or even dangerous promises. 

In addition, it is human nature to seek more, to look beyond what is. This is both a gift and a curse, two sides of the same coin. The ingenuity and curiosity of man is a beautiful treasure, leading to inventions, art, medical cures, and solutions to societal problems. But the desire for more can twist into the pursuit of something dark. The trick is to decipher what is worth striving for and what is possibly detrimental to our very soul and our bond, our relationship with God.

As successors to Eve, where do we go from here? What is our story?

We are not left to navigate our nature as humans and the challenging landscape of our world alone. The kind of wisdom we need does not come from within us. We, as a species, ate from the Tree of Knowledge, but we are far from wise. Even though God banished Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden into a harsher world (our world), He did not abandon them. He has not abandoned us either. He gave His son to reconcile the world to Him, to overcome the Fall. From the very beginning, God wanted a relationship with us. This is the grand story, and it gives me comfort. 

Can you think of some times when the allure of shiny new things turned out to be a mistake? What did you learn from those experiences? We can all approach life with more discernment and wisdom with God’s help. It’s there for the asking.