Forbidden Fruit Will Make You Pay

So I had a revelation tonight in Taco Bell.  My daughter Sydney (5) asked me why Adam and Eve ate from the tree that had the forbidden fruit.  I told her that it was pretty hard to understand, but I would give it a shot in between bites of my fabulous Gordita.  As I began to share how we are not much different than Adam and Eve when put in the right situation (lying, stealing, fighting).  We began to share more and more about how easy it is for us to live out our sinful nature.  Then we began to talk about the story of the fall and what were the consequences from Adam and Eve sinning against God.  Here is what we came up with.

God speaking to the serpent:  GENESIS 3

You are cursed more than all cattle,
        And more than every beast of the field;
        On your belly you shall go,
        And you shall eat dust
        All the days of your life.
15        And I will put enmity
        Between you and the woman,
        And between your seed and her Seed;
        He shall bruise your head,
        And you shall bruise His heel."
16    To the woman He said:
        " I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception;
        In pain you shall bring forth children;
        Your desire shall be for your husband,
        And he shall rule over you."
17    Then to Adam He said, "Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, 'You shall not eat of it':
        " Cursed is the ground for your sake;
        In toil you shall eat of it
        All the days of your life.
18        Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you,
        And you shall eat the herb of the field.
19        In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread
        Till you return to the ground,
        For out of it you were taken;
        For dust you are,
        And to dust you shall return."
20    And Adam called his wife's name Eve, because she was the mother of all living.
21    Also for Adam and his wife the LORD God made tunics of skin, and clothed them.
22    Then the LORD God said, "Behold, the man has become like one of Us, to know good and evil. And now, lest he put out his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever" ---23 therefore the LORD God sent him out of the garden of Eden to till the ground from which he was taken.24 So He drove out the man; and He placed cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life.

Sin's consequences?

SINS CURSES:

1. SERPENT CURSED:  The serpent was cursed to crawl on the belly and have man against him and him against man.  Before the sin of Eve and Adam, animals and creatures were in harmony with humanity.
2. WOMAN CURSED: Pain in childbirth for the woman
3. The desire for woman to lead the man even though they are put under mans authority
4. MAN CURSED:  Man would now have to til the land, before all was readily provided.
5. Contend with a woman trying to vie for leadership in the home.
6. Adam and Eve dismissed from the Garden
7. Death for Adam and Eve (2:18)

All of that because of one sin action.  Today we are still reaping the fruit of that one bite Eve took before she handed Adam the fruit.  Cancer, Typhoons, Sickle Cell; Autism, Murder, Sodomy, Depression.  The challenge for us as believers that I see in the struggle is to understand how dangerous sin is.  It doesn't have one side affect.  Like if I neglect power washing my house, mildew forms, so I get it next fall.  It isn't that simple.  I think we don't understand the gravity of sin and the byproducts that can linger and affect so many and even our own life.  Surely obedience to God brings a blessings.  Sin a curse.  I want more and more to hate sin and love God, not just to be right but to experience all the blessing God has for me in this life and the next.

Stu.