What Is My Tree?

What Is My Tree?

Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”
The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’” Genesis 3:1-3

As we all know, Adam and Eve go on to eat from the tree later in the story. Why did they do that? What pushed Eve over the edge to take hold of the fruit? She did it because the serpent was tempting her. The serpent itself didn’t pluck the fruit off the tree and put it in her hand. It placed itself in her mind and gave reason for the rebellious idea in her head. It twisted God’s good will for us to look like greed and selfishness. For Eve to have been able to hear the serpent she must have been around the tree. She must have already had the seed of sin planted in her mind for the devil to be able to grab a hold of her.

What is your tree? What is the devil tempting you with that God specifically told you not to do? What are you watching longingly, but not going through with? These are the things that we toe the line with. We say, “I didn’t lie, it just wasn’t the whole truth.” We don’t completely rebel against God, but we also don’t distance ourselves as far as we can from our temptations. We stare them in the eye instead of building a wall to block us from them. Imagine if a giant wall blocked you from your sin. You wouldn’t be tempted and you wouldn’t go against God.

That wall is possible. Having a blockade between you and your sin is just within your reach. The wall is Jesus. You need to ask him to come into your mind and heart, so he can guard you against sin. When he is there, Satan runs in fear, and the battle for your life has been fought on your behalf. Adam and Eve didn’t build a wall. Don’t stare your sin in the face. Take action, and remove the trees in your life.