Adam and Eve and the Cookie Jar
Where does our sin spring from? The answer may not be as easy as we think.
But, it sounds simple—Adam and Eve started the whole thing, right? They thumbed their hand-made-by-God noses at Him, deciding they knew best.
Do we do that? If we do, is it their fault or is it ours?
Sometimes we get all tangled up in knots over our sin, trying to come up with reasons and excuses for why we do what we do.
Adam and Eve did—remember the finger-pointing? Can you visualize that in your mind, and then can you see Father God looking from one to the other shaking His head at them?
I think we make it too complicated.
Picture your five-year-old with her hand in the cookie jar. (Cookie jars have gotten a bum rap over the years, IMHO.)
You catch her in the very act of invasion, maybe with a smear of cookie crumbs on her tiny chin.
You might say something like, “What do you think you’re doing?”
And her answer might be spoken with contrition . . . or not.
What if she said, “Well, brother did it! It’s not my fault!”
Wouldn’t that just light up your parental pique? It’d be time for the you are responsible for your own actions speech in my house. Probably in yours, too.
And God got right down to it with Adam and Eve in Genesis chapter 3. He handed out the consequences they’d suffer, but then did something that we, as parents of cookie-monsters ourselves, should remember.
He re-clothed them in mercy and grace.
Why? Because of these three things:
· First, He loved them with an everlasting love.
· Second, He knew that the origin of their sin came from outside themselves. They’d succumbed to a lie from the enemy of their souls. It actually began with a simple question. Hath God said . . .? Adam and Eve had no business trying to answer that question with anything but a resounding Yes!
· And, third, He had already designed the remedy. It involved a tree handmade by Him—and Himself, centuries later, hanging on that tree to take their punishment.
And ours.
Questions for Reflection:
1. Have you ever thought about something that you did that you knew wasn't right in God's eyes? What did you do about it?
2. If you answered "yes" to the question above and have not asked God for forgiveness, please pause for a moment now and ask God to make things right.
