“And the serpent said to the woman, ‘You surely shall not die!  For God knows that in the day 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 tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make on wise, she took from its fruit and ate…” Genesis 3:4-6.

When we look at these verses, we see a path for sin:

1.  The lie –  Here is what is interesting about Satan’s lie:  he first denies what God has said (you will die – Genesis 2:17), and then adds a new twist (you will be like God).  The twist actually resembles the truth.  If we go to Genesis 3:22, God says, “Behold, the man has become like one of us…”  God did not mean that man became a god.  What God meant is that man now knew that there was good and evil.  Man in his creative innocence did not know evil.

2.  The thought – the woman saw that the tree was good for food.  She had seen the tree before.  The tree was planted in the center of the garden.  Before the lie, though, she did not see it as good for food.  God had said she would die if she ate from it.  The lie changed her perspective.  Lies can be powerful.

3.  The feeling – delight and desire.  The one came before the other.  We often say we will just dabble in it.  We need to be careful.  Delighting in something can lead to desiring the same.

4.  The behavior – eating of the fruit.

We often think of sin only in terms of the act.  The path to sin began with the lie.  We need to begin the battle with the lie.  We need to understand the damage of lies in our lives.  Was Satan’s lie a little lie?  Possibly.  However, it led to catastrophic damage for the human race.

The next time you feel the need to succumb to temptation, ask yourself – what is the lie that makes me think it is okay to do this?  Replace the lie with the truth.  Let’s win the battle at the beginning of the path rather than wage war at the end of the path.   It is an easier battlefield.  May God continue to give us victory in these daily battles.