November 24, 2017 Friday

1Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?” 2And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; 3but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ”  Genesis 3:1-3 NKJV

We have celebrated Thanksgiving and this Sunday is Christ the King Sunday and then we will begin our journey through Advent to Christmas where we celebrate the first Gift of Christmas.  But before we get to Christmas we must understand why we need Christmas.

            God created everything good and all combined to be “very good”.  But like children with new toys on Christmas morning we broke God’s gift as we broke faith with God.

            One of the striking things about this part of the story of the Fall is Eve’s response to the serpent.  After the serpent asks Eve if God told them to not eat of a particular tree Eve responds, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; 3but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ” Eve adds to God’s first command and law by adding to it. So many times we feel we know better than God and must “add” to His teaching.  This arrogance gets us into trouble now and eternally!

            As we honor God by our faith and obedience we also allow God’s life to grow within us!

           

            Today is a bad day after getting very little sleep last night.  I feel very tired and weak and hurt a lot.  We will have lunch with all the kids today and that will be a joyful time and gift from God.