📖 The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.” Genesis 2:15-17
📖 Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’” “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said 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." When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you? ”He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.” And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?” The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.” Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” Genesis 3:1-13
Personally, I don't think the fruit in the garden was "magic" or had special powers,
Let's look at the fruit from a different angle:
What if.... seeing good and evil wasn't in the fruit but in the choice.
Sometimes as we tell the story of Eve and the eating of the "forbidden fruit", it sometimes seems like that "magic fruit" was forbidden because IT had some "power" to make them "see".
What IF it wasn't that specific fruit that caused their eyes to be opened and sin to enter the world....it was the choice.
Think about it....what if God had said...."do not eat the berries from that bush!"
Or "Do not drink the water that forms on the leaves"....I think it would have been the same result.
Because it was in their choice to go against God's command that opened their eyes to the sin they had just committed!
The moment Eve said "Yes I will do what God said not to" she knew she had done wrong. And she quickly didn't want to be the only one ...because she then encouraged Adam to sin as well.
I do not know if they learned from this...to encourage one another to do good in God's sight and not wrong....In our relationships I pray that if we make a wrong choice we don't encourage others to go down with us.
Instead, maybe say..."Oh no! I have messed up...can you help me get things back on track!"
Because the wrong is less in what we do than it is in the choice to do what God commands us not to.
To be honest there are way more Dos in scripture than Do Nots!
That should make it easy....if we try and focus on the dos....we won't have time to even consider the do nots!
📖 He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. Micah 6:8
📖 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” John 13:34-35
📖 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. Matthew 6:33-34
📖 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. Matthew 22:37-38
📖Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” Luke 6:38
📖 “This, then, is how you should pray:
“‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.’ Matthew 6:9-13
and the list goes on!
🙏My prayer is that you choose the DOs, instead of the do nots!❤️
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