Eve's Choice

Where is the most beautiful place you've ever been?  What was the most peaceful and protected you have ever felt?  Can you picture your life with no stress, no worry, no To Do List?

Can you imagine having all of that - the beauty, the peace, the quiet mind -  all at once?  I honestly can't, but I imagine that is very close to what Eve must have had in the Garden of Eden.

What would it take for you to give that up - to even risk losing the perfection that surrounded you?  Maybe Eve didn't know how good she had it there in the garden with her husband.  Maybe she was ignorant of how sad life apart from God is, after all, she had no example of sin before her.

But maybe not.  Maybe she wanted more and was willing - knowingly willing - to risk everything to get it.  God gave her the free will to choose and so, maybe she felt she deserved to choose what she wanted over what she knew was right.

As we know, sin calls to us in three ways: lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes and the pride of life (1 John 2:16) and the serpent came at Eve with guns blazing. Genesis 3:6 tells us that Eve saw that the fruit was good for food [lust of the flesh], pleasing to the eye [lust of the eye] and desirable for gaining wisdom [pride of life].

Satan doesn't miss a trick, does he? 

And so, Eve ate the fruit. The Bible doesn't tell us if Satan came to Eve just that once or many times wearing her down. But it really doesn't matter. She made the choice and she faced the consequences. Suddenly, she was hiding from God and worried about her appearance. She and Adam were banished from paradise, from the perfection that had been created just for them. They would now have to work and worry, strain, stress and sacrifice And Sibelius every human that followed.

Thankfully, God - so full of love for his creation - has given humanity a second chance at paradise. And, like Eve, we are told plainly what is right and what is expected of us. But also like Eve, we are given a choice. We can follow the lusts of our flesh and eyes or our selfish pride trying to make our own versions of paradise here on Earth or we can chose the better thing, the real, eternal Paradise with God when this worry and strain-filled life is over.

I am thankful for the freedom to choose, but I am far more thankful for God's grace and the hope we have for eternal life with Him in the real paradise.