~ Musings ~

Well I'm just plain crummy at keeping this page up-to-date. I'm sure that it has been long abandoned by readers, and so I will semi-diligently keep it up, if only as a memory keepsake to trace myself back to my progress in my own spiritual walk of life! ^_~

So last post, I promised some personal sharing on revelations that I've had about God, myself, and life in general. So here is one...

This one is probably the biggest, and I'd like to expand on it more, perhaps in a CCF Insight article one day, but for now, here it is!

The temptation of Eve

I have come to realize why gossip is generally a much more tempting thing to women than it is to men. I have also come to realize why women more often than men tend to have reputations as busybodies, worry-warts, and control-freaks (although I have met some men who finely exemplify these traits as well).

How did I come to these realizations? Is this some sort of a sexist commentary that I'm delving into? Not at all. This problem plagues all of human kind, but after all, it was a woman, Eve, who the serpent persuaded to take the fruit from the Tree of the knowledge of Good & Evil.

So what was so glamorous about this fruit? Was it more colourful and lush looking than the others? Did it smell nice? Or did Eve really want to hurt God? Alienate herself from God?

Well no...and yes.

You see, the temptation that Eve succumbed to, I believe, was not a malicious or hateful act against God, but an act of utter distrust. You've heard it said before: Women like to know everything! I used to think that Eve was silly; trading a face-to-face relationship with God for pain, suffering, death, and separation. What kind of crack-choice is that?

It wasn't until I was facing a moment of great uncertainty in my life that I started to truly understand the true tempation of Eve. One day, as I was holding my face in pain and confusion, my own lips uttered the words: I wish I knew everything!

I wish I knew everything. At that moment, it hit me. If for a second, Eve and I were to switch lives, and it were me that the serpent was persauding to disobey God's will, I would have done it in a heart-beat. You mean if I eat this fruit, I'll know the things that God isn't letting me in on? Maybe I'll even be able to know what the future will hold?

The the temptation of Eve was the draw of certainty in life. Yet God intended only one thing to be certain; the gift of Himself. In return, He expects our trust with everything in our lives. He reveals to us only the next step. We needn't see any farther forward, lest we get lost in the future and miss the gift of His presence.

I am more of a sinner than Eve. Fully having seen the consequences of distrust and disobedience of the Lord, even so there are moments when my desperation would cause me to accept the forbidden fruit. I am in need of more grace than she. I deserve the alienation and shame of being cast out of God's presence. And yet, I rejoice, for Jesus took my place, and reigned victorious over the death that awaits me.

And so I respond by surrendering the desire to be in control of my own destiny, and to foresee what life holds for me. I will trust my Creator. I am a daughter of Eve.

No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.
~ 1 Corinthians 10:12-14