Good Morning Everyone,
Our theme for this month: “Playing by the rules”
Our Bible verse for today: “And the Lord God commanded the man, ‘You are free to eat from any tree of the garden, but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for on the day you eat from it, you will certainly die.” Genesis 2:16-17 (HCSB)
Our thought for today: “We want what we cannot have.”
Recently I saw a humorous post on Facebook. It was a picture of a blazing forest fire. Across the top of the picture the caption read, “Only you can prevent forest fires.” Across the bottom it said, “Darn it Jim, you had one job, just one job!”
That’s funny. Modify the joke slightly and it reminds me of Adam in the Garden of Eden. “Darn it Adam, there was one rule, just one rule!”
Why is it that we always want the one thing we can’t have? A man has a beautiful loving wife, but his eye wanders and he’s attracted to others. Or, just as common, it’s the woman who wants a man other than her husband.
I read a story recently about a wealthy celebrity – a “wealthy” celebrity – who was arrested for shoplifting. She could easily have purchased the entire store! Not just the contents of the store but the entire business. Yet they caught her stuffing a shirt into her purse!
Tell a four year old he can have an apple but not a cookie, and then leave the room. Does he head to the fruit bowl for the apple? No. He makes a beeline for the cookie jar!
We want the thing which we cannot have. It’s human nature. But, there are consequences. The four year old gets a spanking. The shoplifting celebrity goes to jail. The unfaithful spouse ends up divorced.
Adam and Eve had it made. They had the run of the Garden. It was all theirs to use as they liked. They were free to lounge around all day in their birthday suits, luxuriating in paradise, enjoying all the fruits from all the trees – expect the fruit from that one tree. But, (come on, say it with me) “They wanted the one they weren’t allowed to have!”
You know the rest of the story. Broken fellowship with God, expelled from the Garden of Eden, difficult work for Adam, labor pains for Eve, a dysfunctional family life with one son murdering the other, and the downfall of the entire human race – all because they didn’t play by the rules.
So, in what way are you not playing by the rules God has given us? In every person’s life there is something, and in every person’s life there are consequences. I want to challenge all of us today to give serious thought to how we’re living and then, compare that to the standards God has given us. Let’s be willing to make adjustments now, while we still can, before the painful consequences begin.
God Bless,
Pastor Jim
Oak Hill Baptist Church 