Eve's Issues | Part 1

As women in Christ, we often get referred to Eve, more than often with a negative affiliation. I’ve decided to go deeper into this subject matter during my study of the Word. I have learned plenty from Eve and her decisions, and I’d love to share them with you, in hopes that you are encouraged by it! 

In the book of Genesis, we see the encounter of Eve and the serpent in the Garden of Eden; the very encounter that brought sin into the world. The prominent issue in this encounter was Eve falling for Satan’s lies. She allowed his foolishness to defect her obedience to God. There are a few additional issues that Eve struggled with during this encounter that lead to sin, issues that we can certainly learn from.

The serpent was clever, more clever than any wild animal God had made. He spoke to the Woman: “Do I understand that God told you not to eat from any tree in the garden?” The Woman said to the serpent, “Not at all. We can eat from the trees in the garden. It’s only about the tree in the middle of the garden that God said, ‘don’t eat from it; don’t even touch it or you’ll die.’” The serpent told the Woman, “You won’t die. God knows that the moment you eat from that tree, you’ll see what’s really going on. You’ll be just like God, knowing everything, ranging all the way from good to evil.”  When the Woman saw that the tree looked like good eating and realized what she would get out of it—she’d know everything!—she took and ate the fruit and then gave some to her husband, and he ate. (Genesis 3:1-6, MSG)

Issue #1: Lust of the eyes

Eve had “lusty eyes” as I like to call it. When people think of lust, they may automatically think of sexual lust. But we can lust for anything. I’m culprit of lusting after a pair of shoes, a bag, or even a delicious-looking slice of chocolate cake. We all do it at times without even realizing it! In this case, Eve lusted at how the tree looked good for eating. As she disregarded God’s instruction to not eat from the tree, she allowed her feelings and lusty eyes to initiate this fall into sin.

 

We must not allow our feelings toward the sight of something to allow us to fall into sin. Jesus tells us in Matthew 5:28, “But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart”. Eve did not lust after a person in this case, committing adultery against Adam, but this scripture applies to any case of lusty eyes. Looking at ANYTHING lustfully (men, women, material things, etc.) is sinful, causing us to commit adultery against God.

 

Our eyes are the lamps of our bodies, meaning whatever we take in by sight, determines our spiritual health: “Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eyes are healthy, your whole body also is full of light. But when they are unhealthy, your body also is full of darkness” (Luke 11:34). We need to strive to have bodies full of light, Christ’s light!

Issue #2: Desire to “know everything”

 

Eve took a moment and thought of how the situation could benefit herself, and only herself. Satan lured her in with his persuasive tactics, convincing her that she’d gain the ability to “know everything” by eating from the tree. I can relate to this in an altered perspective.

Have you ever found yourself wanting to know everything God has in store for you? God often leaves us with big question marks, allowing an unknown factor to His will or plans for us. He does this to increase our faith in Him. It causes us to lean on Him 100%. This unknown factor sometimes drives people into disobeying God by a lack of patience. They want to get ahead of the game, which then puts them in a place where they are stepping out of God’s will. The desire to know everything can be very dangerous in this case. Can you relate?

We must fully trust God and understand that we will NEVER know everything. Faith is the hope for the unknown. Lean back, trust God, and have faith that He knows what’s best!

Issue #3: Lack of self-control

It’s pretty obvious that Eve had no self-control. As soon as her lusty eyes were activated and she fell for Satan’s lie, she lost all self-control and ate the fruit. Not only did she eat the fruit, but she gave it to Adam to eat also! What was she thinking!?

We need self-control during every single temptation that we face. As spiritual-beings living in today’s crazy world, we face temptation daily. God is great because He provides an exit door every single time temptation shows its face! It takes self-control and diligence to turn away from the temptation and walk through that exit door toward victory!

Let’s keep in mind that temptation can be as drastic as refraining from sex before marriage, and as simple as staying away from excessive sugar or not buying the shoes when we honestly can’t afford it! God provides us with money to spend wisely, along with a body to keep healthy. Temptation comes in all shapes and sizes (no pun intended).

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self- control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires (Galatians 6:22-24)

Self-control is a fruit of the Spirit. Are you walking in the Spirit, or walking in the flesh? No matter how tasty, appetizing, handsome, or logical  the temptation may seem, let’s have some self-control!

God said to the Woman, “What is this that you’ve done?” “The serpent seduced me,” she said, “and I ate.” (Genesis 3:12-13)

Issue #4: Blaming others for the sin we commit.

In verse 13, when God asked Eve what-in-the-world she was thinking when she ate the fruit, she automatically blamed it on Satan. Rather than confessing her mistake, she blamed it on Satan’s persuading skills.

Satan will always be good at twisting words, twisting thoughts, and twisting perspectives into lies. He will never stop trying to deceive us with the intention of pulling us away from God. But! God gives us every tool needed to rebuke Him and take that exit door to victory.

Christ’s spirit lives inside us; the same Christ who dwelled in the dessert for 40 days and 40 nights where Satan tempted Him numerous times; the same Christ who NEVER fell into sin. His Spirit lives in us, which means we have just as much capability to do as He did!

What He did was use scripture as a weapon. Every time Satan would try to deceive Jesus with lies, He would refer back to scripture/the Word of God/the Truth!, and used it to fight Satan off. We need to do the same! We all have access to a bible (even if you don’t have a hand-held bible, download the app on your phone!). God instructs us to meditate on His word day and night for a reason. It’s the best weapon we have when dealing with Satan’s lies.

We won’t even realize when we’re being lied to if we don’t know the truth. God’s word is the truth! So we must study it, memorize key scriptures, and use it to fight off the enemy.

God gave Eve the ability to walk away and refrain from the tree, yet she still wanted to blame Satan on the sin she committed. Have you ever blamed someone else on the sins you’ve committed?

“Oh my gosh, it looked so good and was so cheap, the clerk made me buy it”.

 “He was so cute! I couldn’t resist. Why does God make men look that good?”

“If I told the truth, she’d be so upset, so I had to lie.”

Am I the only one who has ever fallen into this habit?  It’s straight denial! The sins we have committed (and will commit) are nobody’s fault by ours. We never have the right to blame the sins we commit on somebody else. Let’s strive to never do so by being mature in our walk, whole-heartedly repent when we’ve done wrong, and knowing the Truth for ourselves. God already knows the truth, but do you?

We can learn a lot from Eve’s sour encounter with Satan in the Garden of Eden. Will you follow in her footsteps and fall into sin every chance you get? Or will you have self-control and use the truthful Word of God as your weapon? The choice is yours!

Eve's Issues | Part 2 will be coming soon. Make sure to subscribe via bloglovin to receive notice when it is published.


Gabrielle Hilaire was born and raised in Queens, New York. She gave her life to Christ at the age of 15, and has dedicated her time to ministry since then. While dancing professionally, maintaining a Christian blog, and recently graduating with a Bachelor’s degree in Arts Management, she hopes to spread Light and Love wherever she may go. Her tag, #AG2G, appropriately means “All Glory To God