stephen-on-bible

4. Pleasure and Peril of Sin Genesis 3:6, “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.” Do you know why we people love to commit sin? Because it is pleasing , alluring and exhilarating . When the woman saw the fruit of the tree it seemed irresistibly pleasing to her eye. I think she did not eat the fruit immediately after looking at it. She gazed at it and the more she had intent look at it the more it appealed to her. She couldn’t control herself anymore from eating the forbidden fruit and finally gave in to the trap of sin. Eve stands as an example of how one can be deluded by the fascination of sin, failing to see beyond its pleasure. Someone rightly said, “Sin will always expose to you, the pleasure that lies immediately in front of you, it blinds to the destruction that lies ahead of you.” Sin is attractive but destructive too; it is fascinating but also devastating. Now...

3. Discontentment Genesis 3:6, “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.” How “blessed” Eve and Adam were! They had everything to taste and enjoy in the world God created for them. They had all the freedom to eat the best fruits from all the trees in the garden and had only one commandment to obey, i.e. not to eat the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. However, Eve didn't remain content with all that God had given her and craved for something more which was forbidden. She forgot all the best she received from the gracious hand of God, and instead, focused on that one thing she didn't have. She failed to acknowledge, “God has given us the best and I am content with what I have.” She allowed dissatisfaction to reign her heart. Make a note—discontentment was the ruination of our first parents. What about us? Even today the devil is taking advantage...

2. Diluting the Consequences of Sin Genesis 3:1-4, "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 surely die," the serpent said to the woman." One of the subtle strategies of the devil in enticing people to destroy their relationship with God is by diluting the consequences of sin. When God told, “You will die,” the devil said, “You will not surely die.” Eve took seriously the words of Satan than the words of God. She ate the fruit thinking that nothing God warned would happen. She failed to understand that God is not like a man who is casual in his words. She allowed the fat...