There is nothing wrong with wanting to be like God, is there? I mean, isn’t that our goal as Christians? To be like Jesus? So what was the problem? They not only wanted to be like God. What they actually wanted was to be God. That’s really what Satan was offering them in Genesis 3:4. Let’s go to Genesis chapter 3. We’ll begin in verse 1.
Gen. 3:1 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’?” 2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 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.’” 4 “You will not surely die,” the serpent said to the woman. 5 “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
Did you see that phrase? “You will be like God”. The original language, Hebrew, indicates that Satan is offering them a short-cut. What he is actually saying to them is: “Your state of being will instantly become God-like.” Another unstated implication of that statement would be: You won’t any longer need God since you will be a god yourself. And with that, a new thought that had never occurred to Eve, suddenly became the temptation that she could not resist. “I want to be god.” And with that bite, Eve feels a rush of energy and a change of being and she begins to run through the garden singing at the top of her lungs, “It’s all about ME!” Well, maybe not just like that, but her focus, which had only been God-centered, suddenly turned selfish. She wanted to be God. And it continues, to this day, to be the one temptation that none of us can resist. You’ve said it, oh, maybe not in those exact words, but every one of you has fallen prey to that temptation at some point in your life. You’ve re-mixed the words maybe, but it’s the same thing. I want it now! Hey, that’s MINE! You leave MY stuff alone! Or maybe you’ve grown more sophisticated: “C’mon lady, the gas pedal is the one on the right! Step on it already! I’m late!” or “Oh, look at how much she has in that cart. If I hurry I can make it into line before she does.” Or “If he thinks for one minute that I’m gonna put up with that, then he’s got another thing coming.”
What do all of those things focus on? Or perhaps I should say, WHO do all those previous statements focus on? ME. You see, I have to admit that in my inner core, I am inherently selfish. I want what I want, and I want it now! I want to do what I want to do, go where I want to go, be who I want to be, say what I want to say, play where I want to play, and I don’t want any negative consequences. I want to be like a King. They can order people around, be coddled, made over and pampered. People are always at their beck and call and if they decide they don’t like someone, they can have them killed with no consequence. I like the sounds of that. King ME! Consequence free.
But is that really the case? Or is there snag in the theory? Sin causes separation from the life giving source. Separation has a natural consequence--death. If you unplug a computer from the power...it dies...oh, perhaps not right away...if it has a battery. But eventually. And if you don't plug it back in, it becomes useless for little more than a paperweight.
Are you unplugged spiritually? Is your battery running low? Maybe it's time to swallow the pride and plug back in.
