{"id":1479,"date":"2020-01-02T03:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-01-02T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shop.honestreflections.net\/?p=1479"},"modified":"2019-12-13T08:51:34","modified_gmt":"2019-12-13T13:51:34","slug":"forbidden-fruit-makes-many-jams","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/2020\/01\/02\/forbidden-fruit-makes-many-jams\/","title":{"rendered":"ONE FORBIDDEN FRUIT THAT MAKES MANY UNIQUE JAMS"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Then the Lord God said to the woman, \u201cWhat is this you have done?\u201d The woman said, \u201cThe serpent deceived me, and I ate.\u201d Genesis 3:13 NIV<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

My heart aches for Eve in this moment.  I know how she feels, I\u2019ve experienced that moment in time when I realize I\u2019ve been deceived. Eve has just realized the mistake she has made. She has been living in the garden with Adam, life has been amazing as they\u2019ve lived their days in the lap of God\u2019s luxurious blessing.  Then one day Satan started whispering in her ear, in the form of a serpent. \u201cYou can eat from that tree. What does God know? He\u2019s trying to keep you from having fun? One bite won\u2019t hurt?\u201d Slowly Eve begins to believe the serpent\u2019s lies. She begins to think she deserves to eat of the forbidden fruit.  She has a right to taste of it\u2019s delicious nectar. God wouldn\u2019t deny her one bite. She begins to believe that she knows more than God does, especially about her own life. I\u2019ve fallen for the same lies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve believed that I was deserving of a blessing God didn\u2019t intend for me to have. I\u2019ve believed that God doesn\u2019t want me to have fun like the rest of the world.  I\u2019ve listened to the lies that Satan whispers, \u201cJust one bite won\u2019t hurt you.\u201d My battle with weight loss is a perfect example of falling for lies. I\u2019ve had a bad day, things didn\u2019t go the way I expected, I deserve that piece of cake. But the cake isn\u2019t going to solve my problems, it\u2019s only going to make it worse.  Just like eating the fruit changed everything for Adam and Eve. God has given us so much, yet we deceive ourselves into thinking we need more. We think we deserve everything, when in reality, we deserve nothing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We think we deserve everything, when in reality, we deserve nothing.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Deserve means \u201cto merit, to be worthy of.\u201d  When we decide we deserve<\/em> something, we\u2019re making a decision that is truly God\u2019s to make.  The sadness in this thought process, we\u2019re selling ourselves short when we make that decision.  Adam and Eve were living in the lap of luxury in the Garden of Eden, yet it wasn\u2019t enough for them.  They thought they needed more, they thought they deserved it all. In hindsight, I bet they wish they hadn\u2019t taken that bite.  I know, I\u2019ve regretted the bite I\u2019ve taken that I shouldn\u2019t have. But there is hope, God\u2019s grace is there for us in our darkest moments.  God was there to clothe Adam and Eve in their sin, with His love and grace. He\u2019ll do the same for us, once we follow Eve\u2019s example and say, \u201cI was deceived.\u201d
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Question of the Day:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Is there an area of your life where you have been deceived that you need God\u2019s love to pour into today?
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Further Reading:<\/strong> <\/strong>Genesis 3:1-4:26 NIV<\/a>, Matthew 2:13-3:6 NIV<\/a>, Psalm 2:1-12 NIV<\/a>, Proverbs 1:7-9 NIV<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Then the Lord God said to the woman, \u201cWhat is this you have done?\u201d The woman said, \u201cThe serpent deceived me, and I ate.\u201d Genesis 3:13 NIV My heart aches for Eve in this moment.  I know how she feels, I\u2019ve experienced that moment in time when I realize I\u2019ve been deceived. Eve has just… Continue reading ONE FORBIDDEN FRUIT THAT MAKES MANY UNIQUE JAMS<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1479","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","without-featured-image"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1479","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1479"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1479\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1637,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1479\/revisions\/1637"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1479"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1479"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1479"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}