It had been a wonderful day. I had been hounded by temptation all day, but with
God’s help, I had overcome anger, despair, discouragement, self-pity, and
disappointment. I had even overcome my brooding nature for more than 3 hours!
Then a new thought occurred to me. Why not celebrate my victory over temptation
by having a little piece of carrot cake? After all, eating carrot cake isn’t
wrong! So I had a piece, and it was sooo good. Why not have another? And
another, and another, and another?
Then a funny thing happened. After my little “snack”, I was no longer able to
fight off temptation! The anger, depression, despair, discouragement, and
self-pity that I had conquered all day washed over me like a flood, rendering me
completely helpless. “Where are you, God?” I cried, and in an instant, I found
myself standing in the middle of the most beautiful garden I had ever seen.
“You are free to eat from any tree in the garden,” called a voice from among the
trees, “but you must not eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil,
for when you eat of it you will surely die.”
The Garden of Eden! I looked up, and just in front of me was a giant Carrot
Cake. My eyes widened in astonishment as ice cream and candy, cookies and pie
appeared on the top. Then I slowly began to understand. My “Tree of Knowledge of
Good and Evil” was intemperance! When I overindulge myself in the smallest way,
I provide the “crack” that the devil and his forces need to overcome me, to rob
me of God’s Spirit, to doom me to failure.
We each have our own “Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil”—our own area of
personal weakness. No matter how innocent or trivial it may seem, once we give
in even “just a little”, we are allowing the enemy to take free reign of our
hearts. Is it any wonder that Paul admonishes us to “throw off everything that
hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance
the race marked out for us” (Heb. 12:1)?
Lyn Chaffart
The Illustrator: This daily newsletter is dedicated to encouraging
everyone to look towards Jesus as the source of all the solutions to our
problems. It contains a daily inspirational story, a Bible verse and encouraging
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The Nugget: Published three times a week, this newsletter features inspirational devotionals and mini-sermons dedicated to drawing mankind closer to each other and to Christ.