The Fallen and Falling (or not)
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. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. – Genesis 3:6, NIV
Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever. -1 John 2:15-17, NIV
“So the tempter pits his bare assertion against the word and works of God, presenting divine love as envy, service as servility, and a suicidal plunge as a leap into life, ‘All these things will I give thee…’; the pattern repeats in Christ’s temptations, and in ours.” – Derek Kidner
“The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever. If there is anything that we learn from these passages (Genesis 3; Matthew 4; 1 John 2), may it be the power of God’s Word to defeat evil and sin. So let us search God’s Word, unwearyingly and constantly, so that we may be equipped to do battle against Satan and temptations.” – John D. Currid
Temptation is not a sin. Sin most often follows temptation. One of the lessons of Genesis 3 is that humanity, left to its own devices, is a poor match for the Evil One and his temptations. No small wonder then that our prayer as followers of Jesus includes, “And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from the Evil One.” (Matthew 6:13) And while you and I will not find ourselves in a perfect garden talking to a snake, we will find ourselves facing temptation and then, we had better be prepared or, we will fall. (1 Corinthians 10:12-13) Thankfully, Jesus was tempted (Hebrews 4:15) and didn’t sin so, we can look to His example as a blueprint on how to defeat temptation and the Evil One. Or in other words, Jesus’ example becomes the antithesis of Adam and Eve and therefore a “how to guide” if we are willing to learn from it. I do not disagree with the Currid quote above, a vital element in this fight is knowing God’s word. It is our only offensive weapon in the armor of God (Eph 6:10-17). But, knowing God’s Word is not enough. We must also remember that Jesus was completely dependent on the Holy Spirit. (Matthew 4:1) Only by the Spirit can we turn our knowledge of God’s Word into an offensive weapon, applying the right truth at the right time. In fact, Holy Spirit dependency is the only way to resist and spot the lies that Satan’s temptation smuggles in by default. Only the Holy Spirit can help me to remember and deeply know the goodness of God, always. On my own, I will forget God’s goodness and doubt His love. But, the Holy Spirit is constantly reminding me of these realities and bringing them home. And, if I can cling to those realities, especially in the hard moments, I can be an overcomer in Christ Jesus. For temptation’s hinge point is most often anchored here: ”God has/is depriving me of something good (or better, or best).” If I can defeat that lie, then I am well on the way to defeating the temptation. One of the ways we practically do this is by cultivating an attitude of gratitude. We must not listen to the whispers of this world which are constantly turning our attention and, if unguarded, our affection to that which we do not have. If I am focused instead on all that God had graciously given me, I can short-ciruit the mechanism by which I would lust for that which is not mine. For the sake of illustrating the principle let me walk through a temptation scenario. We know that stealing is wrong. (Exodus 20:15) The temptation to steal does not often come as an unvarnished reality, that would most often be defeated quickly and without hesitation. The temptation to steal starts with looking at that which someone else has and thinking how nice it is (the lust of the eyes). Then, it turns to thinking of how great it would be to have one of those for yourself because, well, you probably need one (the lust of the flesh). Then it evolves into a mind-bending exercise of justifying how, said object should be in your possession and not in someone else’s, after all, you deserve better than you have right now (the pride of life). And, if left unchecked, then we will take that which does not belong to us feeling fully justified in our theft. If we had leaned on the Holy Spirit and remembered God’s Word, we wouldn’t have been lead astray. He would have been faithful to remind us that, “He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?” (Romans 8:32) Further, if we had cultivated gratitude for what God had given, rather than that which we did not have, our desire for someone else’s stuff would be greatly lessened. Because, instead of greed or self-pity winning the mental dialogue, we would have been reminding ourselves that we’ve already been given far more than we deserve. Hopefully, this little example calls to our attention the need for the kind of constant vigilance that we must embrace or we, the fallen will fall again.
Questions for further discussion/life application:
What is a practical way to grow in dependence on the Holy Spirit?
How will you ensure that you are “getting into God’s Word and getting God’s Word into you?”
Do you have specific areas of weakeness that you can identify as vulnerabilities? How will you strengthen your knowledge of Scripture, dependence on the Holy Spirit and deep gratitude specific to these areas?
Reflecting on your story, what is an area of weakness that, by God’s grace, you’ve been able to strengthen in your journey? What were keys to that growth?
A great song on God’s Goodness