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Friday, November 20, 2009

Forbidden fruit - eating forbidden fruit

 
I read a little piece the other day that reminded me so much of something John warned us of in his epistle of 1 John. Plus, perhaps like me, you've no doubt noticed all of the ads for the Christmas buying season even though, at this writing, we haven't even celebrated Thanksgiving yet. See, I think these ads play right in to what John was telling us in 1 John 2:16 when he warned us about the "lust of the eyes" and the stores know this weakness in man and show us things that we "just have to have."

And, when you think about it, this form of approach to selling something to us humans has been around since the beginning of time, literally. The slickest salesman of all, Satan, in the form of a serpent, approached Eve in the Garden of Eden and convinced her that the "forbidden fruit" was something she "just had to have." Something that she "couldn't live without." It worked then and it's been working ever since.

I know that this has probably never happened with you, but it certainly has with me. I've bought things that, when they appeared before my eyes, which funneled them straight to my brain and punched the "must have" button, that after I got home with them and reality set in, I wondered why I had purchased it. I'll even 'fess up to buying a "must have" item that's still in its original box - unopened! But, at the time I was convinced that I just "couldn't live without it." And, since one of those items (oh yes, there's been more than one) was bought at least 6 years ago, obviously I could have lived without it.

Well, we can chuckle at some of the dumb things we've bought, or some of the dumb paths we've traveled that our "eyes" have deceived us into following, but when it comes to the "spiritual" realm, it's not so funny anymore. Eve paid dearly for allowing that most "subtle" of deceivers to convince her that if she ate the fruit she was told not to eat, not only would she "not die," but would be like a god herself. Ever wonder if this isn't possibly why we refer to a cheat today as a "snake in the grass?" Seems to fit to me. Point is, Satan knows that one of man's weak points is the "lust of the eyes" and exploits it well.

Let me tell you the little story I read that sort of kicked off all of these thoughts in my mind and I think it will help us understand how our eyes can cheat us if we don't keep a cover over that "must have" button. When we get like the disciples were when Christ told them that they had "eyes but didn't see." (Mk. 8:18)

A man was struggling through a bus station with two large and obviously heavy suitcases when a stranger stopped him and asked him for the time. The man set the suitcases down, pulled up his coat sleeve and spoke to his wristwatch saying, "Time please." A voice from the watch said, "The time is five-thirty."

"Wow, what a watch!" the stranger said. The man said, "Oh that's nothing, watch this." He then asked the watch to say the time in Japanese and it did so. He then told it to say the time in German and Swahili and it immediately did it in those languages. The man then told the watch to give him the time in London and do so with a British accent. The watch did as it was asked.

The stranger was amazed by this, but there was more. The man spoke to the watch and said, "Home monitor." Immediately there appeared a 3-dimensional hologram before them showing the man's living room. "Unbelievable" said the stranger. The man then ordered the watch to leave a message for his wife and also to send flowers to his sister for her birthday. He then asked for the 5 O'clock news. Again came the hologram and the two men watched the news being reported.

The man told the stranger, "Now watch this" and he ordered the watch to show the photos of his recent wedding and to play music as they were being shown. The photos appeared before them, seemingly floating in the air while classical music was playing in the background.

The man then explained that the watch was really a super powerful, voice-activated computer and that it was in contact with most of the world's satellites. Because of this, he could communicate halfway around the world by radio/telephone. The stranger said, "I want to buy that watch. I have to have that watch."

The man told him that it wasn't yet ready for sale as he was still working the bugs out of it. The stranger didn't care and said, "I've got to have it. I'll pay you $10,000 for it." The man said, "No, I've got that much invested in creating it." The stranger then upped it to $20,000 and the man still said, "No." Finally the stranger said, "Alright, I'll give you $50,000 for it right now" and pulled out his wallet.

The man said OK, took the watch off and the stranger thrust the money into his hand, grabbed the watch and started to run for his bus. The man yelled out to him and said, "Hey, wait a minute!" The stranger stopped and turned back to see what he wanted and the man pointed to the two large suitcases and said, "Don't forget your batteries."

I think there's a great lesson seen in that little story. One that tells us that Satan can make something so attractive that we "just have to have it" and we're so blinded by our desires that we never see the "baggage" that comes with it. The Apostle Paul says that Satan is so good at his salesmanship that he can even make himself appear as an "angel of light." (2 Cor. 11:14) And, while we try and not get taken in our material buying, let's work harder spiritually on blocking out the "lust of our eyes" and not be "ignorant of Satan's devices" (2 Cor. 2:11). The "baggage" that comes with Satan's product is more than we want to carry.

Ron Covey

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