Like Adam and Eve, we knock ourselves into hard lives, too.
“You won’t die!” the serpent replied to the woman. “God knows that your eyes will be opened as soon as you eat it, and you will be like God…” Genesis 3:4-5
I remember a sermon I gave some time ago where I highlighted individuals who “struck it big” winning millions of dollars in their state lottery. Oh, lucky them! Their common dominator wasn’t the square footage in the American castles they bought, or their extensive and extended vacations. It wasn’t even the number of cars they owned. What they shared was how they died. As a result of their great money, each committed suicide.
We know what happens to Eve and Adam. Because of their actions, they are knocked into a hard life — a really hard life. I don’t know anyone who listens to serpents, but I do know we listen to the still, small voice inside of us that tells us what we have in the present is not enough. There is more to be seen. There is more to be had. Life should be better than this. Life should be bigger than this.
Eve shows us in her conversation with the serpent that bliss gets boring. Whatever we have in the now isn’t enough.
There are people out there with raw deals. They’re holding a hardship, usually not by choice. You may be one of them. I am not taking away your pain, but I am asking you to look at something in your life that IS good. It may be one small thing, but something in the now is right—or at least it’s sorta kinda okay. Hold that. Give it space. Let it grow.
Unless you’re honing an obscure skill in the hope of getting on a TV talent show, I don’t think you listen to serpents. But you can listen to dark talk inside your head.
To Eve, the serpent says, “You won’t die!” That’s not entirely true. A part of her did die. Her joy died. Her happiness stopped. Your joy and your happiness dies too when you don’t find something in your life now—today—that is beautiful, that is wonderful. You may want something else, but let what you have live.
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PRAYER: Lord, help me love what I have with joy. Amen.
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