06/15/2026
Monday Morning Blog
Sunday Scripture Passage
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.’ ”
“You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.
Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”
He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”
And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”
The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”
Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?”
The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
So the Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, “Cursed are you above all livestock and all wild animals!
You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life.
And I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and hers;
he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”
To the woman he said,
“I will make your pains in childbearing very severe;
with painful labor you will give birth to children.
Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.”
To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’
“Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life.
It will produce thorns and thistles for you,
and you will eat the plants of the field.
By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food
until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken;
for dust you are and to dust you will return.”
Adam named his wife Eve, because she would become the mother of all the living.
The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them. And the Lord God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.” So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life - Genesis 3:1-24
Thoughts
As we continue through the opening chapters of the Bible, in Genesis, we see sin and death enter in quickly through Adam and Eve eating from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, via the serpent’s temptation. Though they were tempted and sinned, God did not give up on them. Of course, there were consequences to their sin! Eve was cursed with painful child bearing and desire for her husband, who will rule over her. God cursed the ground through Adam, where there will be painful toil as he tries to keep and cultivate the ground, and that he will return to dust from which he came. All our sin has consequences. All sin separates us from God; regardless of what it is, it has the same effect. Yet, there are degrees of consequence to sin; for murder and lying are different in consequence, same for idolatry, stealing, adultery, etc.
With all of this, God set forth a plan to redeem humanity, to not let sin and death live forever through us. In verses 15 and 21 of Genesis 3, we see that God is going to cover our sin and that one of Eve’s offspring (who we know is Jesus) will crush the head of the serpent. Sin had only just come into the world in this chapter, and God already has something in motion for it to be rendered defeated. Of course, sin will continue to abound through humanity; which we will see in Genesis 4 and onward. Yet, the grace of God will abound even further! Through Christ, the power of sin and death was utterly defeated through His death and resurrection. And we have Christ and His power dwelling in us, and sin’ power is rendered useless. We still struggle with it, because it tries to keep us from the Lord, but we have the ability, through the Holy Spirit, to resist it and draw closer to God. So, may we continue to trust in Christ and know that through Him, sin and death are defeated.
Prayer
Lord Jesus, I am your witness. I long to be like you.
I receive your righteousness and release my sinfulness. I receive your wholeness and release my brokenness. I receive your fullness and release my emptiness. I receive your peace and release my anxiety. I receive your joy and release my despair. I receive your healing and release my sickness. I receive your love and release my selfishness.
Come, Holy Spirit, transform my heart, mind, soul, and strength so that my consecration becomes your demonstration; that our lives become your sanctuary. For the glory of God our Father, amen.
