Adam and Eve’s Excuses

Linking up with Five Minute Friday today, and the word for this week is Excuse. I have five minutes to write, so here goes:

When I think of people making excuses, my mind always goes back to … not me, of course (hashtag kidding). But to Genesis, and in particular, Adam and Eve. Ironically, I discussed this in my recent post about mass shootings in America. Still, it seems it’s always a good time to write about it, because it will always ring true that excuses started in the Garden, and making excuses will always be a temptation for mankind.

Turns out an antiquated Book can stay relevant … 

Eve gave into temptation and ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And when God asked her what happened, she blamed the serpent. She made excuses. Adam, when he caved and ate of the tree, blamed it on his wife. He also made excuses.

Taking personal responsibility is adulting, and it’s hard. Nobody savors doing it, because nobody relishes feeling bad about themselves. But admittance is always the first step to recovery. That’s a little trick Alcoholics Anonymous taught us, but AA (whether wittingly or unwittingly) got the trick from the Bible. Confession has always been a Christian practice, and without it, we can’t move from guilt and condemnation to hope and healing.

Are you busily gathering proverbial leaves to cover up your nakedness? Putting on a show of innocence is often the first reaction to guilt. But think about how silly that response was from Adam and Eve. God made them. He was God, and therefore knew everything, but especially everything about them. They may have felt like they were hiding, but there was no legit way to conceal themselves from their Maker. In fact, He knew them better than they knew themselves.

Are we still under the curse even though we confess? Yes. But confession brings what our hearts crave: renewal of relationship with our Maker, the same thing Adam and Eve were after. Not only did they feel shame and an impending sense that punishment was coming (“you shall surely die”), but they felt the worst feeling of all: separation from God.

Thankfully God, through Jesus, has bridged the inevitable separation that sin causes. That provision frees us to stop making excuses, confess, ask for forgiveness, accept that forgiveness, and go on with life – free and unashamed, in spite of our fallen state.

Thank you, Jesus.

Ding, ding. Time is up.

Until next time … toodle-oo.