We all know the story about Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden and how Eve was tempted by the devil to eat the forbidden fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Every time I read that story, I want it to end differently. “No, Eve, don’t take that bite!” But she does it anyway. We look down at Adam and Eve for allowing that sly serpent to deceive and trick them into eating it so they could be “just like God”. Surely we would not have eaten from that tree!
What is your forbidden fruit? What is that one temptation that you have not been able to resist? Maybe there is more than one. We have all sinned and fallen short of God’s glorious standard. I certainly cannot say that I’m without sin. Maybe it is because of Adam allowing sin to enter the world through his disobedience, but that doesn’t excuse us. He just happened to be the first man. We are still accountable for our own sin.
Thank God that he gave us the way out of our deserved punishment for our sins. The Bible says that the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord. So the next time you are tempted to take a bite of that forbidden fruit, think about the consequences that you deserve for that sin and then think about the free gift that you received from Jesus. Maybe you won’t take that bite!
Romans 6:23 (TPT) - “For sin’s meager wages is death, but God’s lavish gift is life eternal, found in your union with our Lord Jesus, the Anointed One.”