The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.
John 10: 10 – 11
As we see from the first book of the Bible when Satan is tempting Eve in the Garden of Eden, the devil’s biggest (and most effective) lie is that God’s ways are not really best for us. Genesis 3 opens with Satan intentionally misstating the directives God had given to Adam (“did God really say you can’t eat of any tree in the garden?”). Though Eve corrects the misstatement, it got her to thinking. Why would God forbid her from eating even one of the available fruits, especially if the one which is off limits is so beautiful and provides so many potential benefits?
At the root of Satan’s lie and the root of Eve’s sinful disobedience, was the idea that maybe everything God asks of us isn’t really in our best interest. When we don’t understand why God gives us the rules He does, our minds run wild on us. We are certain that we have our own best interest at heart and so anything God asks of us that we don’t agree with we assume means that God does not have our best interest at heart.
Of course, the biblical answer is that God most certainly has our best interest in mind AND He knows the direct and indirect consequences of our actions and decisions. If Eve had had any idea of the harmful consequences that would flow from her decision to taste the forbidden fruit, she would never have given the idea a second thought. Of course, she didn’t have to understand the cascade of negative events that would follow, she simply had to have faith that God had her best interest at heart, that He would never ask her to obey a rule that wasn’t ultimately for her good.
Notice in the verse from John chapter 10 above, right after Jesus assures us that He came to give us the most abundant life possible, He reminds us that He came to die for us. If He loves us enough to sacrifice Himself on our behalf, it is probably safe to place our faith in His motives regarding us. Therefore, I would remind us all that when we are almost certain that behaving in some unbiblical way is going to make us happy, we need to rekindle our faith in God’s promise that it ultimately will not. If we
understand Satan’s biggest and most frequent lie and how he uses it, it will help us to avoid tripping over it.
Andy’s book, Clear Vision: How The Bible Teaches Us To View The World, can be purchased here.
Komentar