Free Cheese

Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths. (Genesis 3:1-7 ESV).

The common proverb is that there is always free cheese in a mousetrap. There is certainly a possibility that you may have heard that in the context of a political conversation; however, it reminds me of the first temptation of man in the Garden of Eden. Our reading today gives us the details of the crafty serpent coming to Eve and convincing her that the risk of disobedience was worth the reward. Beginning with that, it seems to be a good time to talk a bit about temptation. After all it is over a week after all the good intentions and typical resolutions have been made for a new start in this New Year. Perhaps you are one of those resolute individuals who have not forgotten or relapsed from your grand commitments. If you are, then spend the rest of the time reading this devotional and praying for the rest of us who have not been quite so strong! Let’s dig a bit deeper into the Scripture. Note how the serpent comes to Eve. He raises questions about the trustworthiness of God, “Did God actually say…” I wonder how many times that phrase has been whispered in your mind reducing your resolve to resist the free cheese? This is when the devil plants the seeds of doubt in Eve’s mind. When Eve says she’s not to eat of the fruit or she’ll die, the devil replies cunningly, “You surely shall not die.” The ultimate liar accuses God of lying. Think about temptation in your own life. It usually means believing your way is better than God’s way. For Eve and for all of us, when we begin to doubt the reliability of God’s promises and ignore His past work in our lives, we begin to give into temptation. We buy into the lies and half-truths of the world. It always leads to destruction. Ask God to give you strength to live it and resist temptation. Resist the free cheese. It’s got an awful snap at the end of it!