All hell broke loose at the Garden party Adam and Eve attended as they represented you before a slimy slick salesman serpent who convinced them that God was keeping a powerful secret from them, and that if they simply bit into the fruit God was selfishly keeping them from enjoying, “Your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil” (Genesis 3:5.)
Make no mistake. As soon as they bit into the serpent's promise, they were instantly smarter. They realized the naked truth. Their faces turned beet red as they pointed at definite body parts the other one didn't have. “Oh, my gosh!” Adam exclaimed, “we're not alike at all.” Their intimacy totally vanished.
Eve said, “This is all God's fault. He didn't even tell us to hide ours bodies from each other. He must be a pervert!” And with that, she ran to a nearby fig tree, pulled down some leaves and covered over the differences between her husband and her. Adam did the same. Soon they were scratching their private places because fig leaves not only itch but quickly produce allergies that cause nothing but misery. AsGenesis 3:7 puts it, “Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings.” Like little puppies, there eyes opened and they didn't like at all what they saw. The beauty in each others bodies that had stimulated their desire to be “one” (Genesis 2:23-25) became ugly and terribly embarrassing to them. How's that for instantly becoming “smarter?”
I Corinthians 15:21-22: “For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive" Sin came through Adam, not Eve, because God had directly told Adam that He was putting him in charge of the whole Garden and NEVER to eat from "the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for in the day that you eat from it you shall surely die” (Genesis 3:4.) He let his wife eat from it and watched her afterward. Finally, when nothing seemed to happen to her, he ate from it too.What a guy!
Here's the question: What was it that happened to the thinking of Adam and Eve that totally effects how humans have thought ever since? Answer: In one hideous moment, Adam and Eve switched totally from obeying God with their individual spirit and soul to deciding everything with their fleshly brains through their individual feelings and logic. Because sin permeated the entire globe due to Adam's fall, perfect loving obedience in absolute fellowship with God could never be equaled again by any human on Earth, not even by you or me. That kind of relationship will only be fully restored after Christ brings us to Him. Adam and Eve's perception of God changed total love to a harsh taskmaster who had intruded in their lives and needed to be kept away from. Multitudes of Christians do the same with Christ today. They love Christ only at a distance.
So, how does anyone who knows they are feeling distant from Christ, get up close and personal? They respond with their whole heart to Christ's love from His invitation to them in Hebrews 4:14-16 to them: "Therefore, since we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things, yet without sin. Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need."
And if that person can't seem to fully respond to Christ's loving invitation, James 4:7-10: "Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be miserable and mourn and weep; let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord and He will exalt you."
Yep, it may be extremely painful to let go of whatever sin you fully know you're mired in. Leaving other humans who have reveled in the very same sin with you or making heaps of money that will stop, or copping out on life with drugs, booze, or any other synthetic substitute for reality, etc. can make you cry for longer than a day. But once you do tell Satan and his host to go to hell, and surrender your life to Christ, HE will fight all the hard stuff with you and He's bigger than anything else you've ever faced. Remember, once you really come to Christ or back to Christ if you've put on your own fig leaves, you won't be holding His hand, HE'LL be holding yours from here to eternity. Yes, you CAN walk close to Christ NO MATTER WHAT YOU'VE DONE. AND WALKING CLOSE TO HIM IS WORTH ANY OTHER THING IN LIFE.
(to be continued)