Daily Death During Life

Scripture: “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” Genesis 3:4-5

Observation: As is well known, in this exchange with the serpent Eve misquotes the Lord about the one rule they have been given, misstating the act that is forbidden. She says she will die if she touches the tree, but the serpent corrects her that she will not die, but instead will 'know good and evil.'

It is true that the Lord said they would die if they ate from the tree (verse 2:17), and the Lord's word is always true. In one sense, that curse was proved true because Adam and Eve are no longer alive on earth. However, many scholars would say the death that is this curse is spiritual, as it is now possible to sin and thus be removed from the Lord's presence. That said, there is another way they died that day ... they sought the will to know good and evil, which is the true definition of earthly hardship and death.

We know the Lord seeks to give all mankind everything good, and that the real source of sin is the act of Adam and Eve, which is to define 'good' and 'evil' for ourselves. If we would merely seek the Lord as our only source of wisdom, we would have amazing lives. When we turned away and sought good and evil for ourselves, we didn't just sin ... we died. Our lives became a mess, full of pain and sadness and depression of hard work and anger and fear and anxiety and hopelessness and sorrow. All that - every bit of those words - are now part of the lives of every person, regardless of station or status or riches. Maybe some aspects are worse for some, but we all know all about all of these negative aspects of life. That is true "death", and that was never the Lord's plan for any of us.

Application: Original sin is such a deep topic, but it can also be made very basic, and that is how I see it ... due to our decision to disobey the Lord, we will have hard lives, and while Jesus provides eternal reconciliation, faith does not protect us from hardship.

And this is true because I still sin, I still disobey, I still decide good and evil for myself and judge others by some definition I have placed in my own mind, every day. This is daily death during life on earth.

I have thought recently about what heaven will really be like ... specifically about how it works when beings that have free will are now together not because we were good but because we have faith in Jesus, and somehow don't inflict problems on each other. Perhaps this is the answer: In the presence of the Lord, we will finally accept that he is the only definition of good and evil, and will obey his words and his will instead of our own, and in so doing all bad actions will disappear. That was the way the world was supposed to work in the first place, so it makes sense that the "new heaven and new earth" would reinstate that model.

Prayer: Lord, please do forgive me when I chase my own definitions of good and evil, and especially when I know your definitions and behave differently. I would like to call upon your direction in all my actions more and more, every day. Amen.