DAY 1 – JANUARY 23

SERIES: MAKERS AND BREAKERS

TITLE: “TEMPTATION”

WEEKLY SCRIPTURE READING: Genesis 3:1-24

DAILY SCRIPTURE READING: Genesis 3:1-6

KEY SCRIPTURE: “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 form any tree in the garden’?’” Genesis 3:1

Temptation is a big word. It is a word to be taken seriously and not ignored. Temptation is also a reality. Every person, regardless of their circumstances or situation, faces temptation. Adam and Eve faced temptation head on. The master tempter led Eve and Adam down a destructive path of deceit. Take a few moments today to reflect on our response to temptation as you read the following scripture and words to the song, “Yield not to temptation” by Horatio Palmer.

“So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall! No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.”

I Corinthians 10:12-13

Yield not to temptation, for yielding is sin;
Each vict’ry will help you some other to win;
Fight manfully onward, dark passions subdue;
Look ever to Jesus, He’ll carry you through.

Refrain:
Ask the Savior to help you, Comfort, strengthen, and keep you;
He is willing to aid you, He will carry you through.

Shun evil companions, bad language disdain,
God’s name hold in rev’rence, nor take it in vain;
Be thoughtful and earnest, kindhearted and true;
Look ever to Jesus, He’ll carry you through.

Refrain:
Ask the Savior to help you, Comfort, strengthen, and keep you;
He is willing to aid you, He will carry you through.

To him that o’ercometh, God giveth a crown,
Through faith we will conquer, though often cast down;
He who is our Savior, our strength will renew;
Look ever to Jesus, He’ll carry you through.

Refrain:
Ask the Savior to help you, Comfort, strengthen, and keep you;
He is willing to aid you, He will carry you through.

DAY 2 – JANUARY 24

SERIES: MAKERS AND BREAKERS

TITLE: “THEIR EYES WERE OPENED”

WEEKLY SCRIPTURE READING: Genesis 3:1-24

DAILY SCRIPTURE READING: Genesis 3:1-7

KEY SCRIPTURE: “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.” Genesis 3:7

Disneyland and I have something in common in that we were born in the same year. I have visited Disneyland on several occasions. In one area of the park, Fantasyland, there are several rides that relate to stories that Disney has made into movies and made famous. One of our favorites is the Peter Pan ride. Another easy ride that I personally enjoy is Pinocchio. The story is based on the 19th century children's story by Carlo Collodi. The story features an old woodcarver, named Geppetto, who lives alone with a cat and a goldfish in the European Alps. One day, he carves a little boy puppet and names him Pinocchio. Whenever he sees the marionette, he thinks how wonderful it would be to have a real son.

According to the story, during the night, the Blue Fairy brings the puppet to life, removes his strings, and instructs the little wooden boy to shun evil and follow good. She provides him with a cricket by the name of Jiminy to be his conscience.

As the story continues, on the way to school one day, Pinocchio is tempted by two conniving characters who recognize the commercial value of a walking, talking puppet. They introduce Pinocchio to Stromboli, a carnival operator. Seeking fame and fortune as an actor, Pinocchio becomes the star of Stromboli's marionette show and generates lots of money for him. Stromboli sings loudly as he counts his money in a back room, while Pinocchio naively looks on. "Bravo, Pinocchio!" Stromboli cheers. "They liked me!" Pinocchio says. Stromboli says, "You were sensational. You were colossal." "Does that mean I'm an actor?" Pinocchio asks. "Sure. I will push you in the public’s eye! Your face…she will be on everybody's tongue!"

Stromboli's greedy visions of how much his wooden slave will earn him are interrupted as he detects a counterfeit coin in his pile of money. Irritated, he tosses the worthless piece to Pinocchio, suggesting that it is his wage. Not realizing he is being taken advantage of, the puppet starts for home to show Geppetto his income. Stromboli chases after him and locks him in a cage. "This will be your home," he says. He gathers all his gold coins and makes it clear that Pinocchio is no longer free. "To me you are belonging," he says. "We will tour the world together…. You will make lots of money for me. And when you are growing too old, you will make good firewood." Stromboli throws the axe he has been holding into a pile of old wooden toys. Pinocchio calls out for help and is told to be quiet. As Stromboli leaves the room with an evil laugh, Pinocchio’s eyes were opened and he realizes he is a prisoner.

In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve’s eyes were opened to the reality and consequences of their sin. Open our eyes, God, to the cost and consequences of sin.

DAY 3 – JANUARY 25

SERIES: MAKERS AND BREAKERS

TITLE: “RESPONSIBILITY”

WEEKLY SCRIPTURE READING: Genesis 3:1-24

DAILY SCRIPTURE READING: Genesis 3:8-13

KEY SCRIPTURE: “The man said, ‘The woman you put here with me –she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.’” Genesis 3:12

Author, John Killinger tells a story about the manager of a minor league baseball team who was so disgusted with his center fielder's performance that he ordered him to the dugout and assumed the position himself. The first ball that came into center field took a bad hop and hit the manager in the mouth. The next one was a high fly ball, which he lost in the glare of the sun--until it bounced off his forehead. The third was a hard line drive that he charged with outstretched arms; unfortunately, it flew between his hands and smacked his eye. Furious, he ran back to the dugout, grabbed the center fielder by the uniform, and shouted, “You idiot! You've got center field so messed up that even I can't do a thing with it!”

To blame is to accuse or hold someone else responsible. It is to place the blame or responsibility for, with, on, or upon someone or something else. Adam did not accept responsibility for disobeying God when God confronted him. Instead, he placed the blame upon the woman and, to some degree, upon God, who gave him the woman. When confronted by God, Eve blamed the serpent. Like Adam, she, too, did not accept responsibility for her disobedience to God.

Bernard L. Brown once worked in a hospital where a patient knocked over a cup of water, which spilled on the floor beside the patient's bed. The patient was afraid he might slip on the water if he got out of the bed, so he asked a nurse's aide to mop it up. The patient didn't know it, but the hospital policy said that small spills were the responsibility of the nurse's aides, while large spills were to be mopped up by the hospital's housekeeping crew. The nurse's aide decided the spill was a large one and she called the housekeeping department. A housekeeper arrived and declared the spill a small one. An argument followed. "It's not my responsibility," said the nurse's aide, "because it's a large puddle." The housekeeper did not agree. "Well, it's not mine," she said, "the puddle is too small." The exasperated patient listened for a time, then took a pitcher of water from his night table and poured the whole thing on the floor. "Is that a big enough puddle now for you two to decide?" he asked. It was, and that was the end of the argument. 

The story of Adam and Eve calls us to realize and remember we are all responsible for our own actions. Blaming others is of no value, as it does not change the reality of our responsibility. We are responsible to God for our own actions. Blaming others only distracts us from looking in the mirror of truth and accepting responsibility for our own actions and attitudes. Taking responsibility can be a first step towards addressing the problems, sins and issues in our lives.

DAY 4 – JANUARY 26
SERIES: MAKERS AND BREAKERS
TITLE: “CONSEQUENCES”
WEEKLY SCRIPTURE READING: Genesis 3:1-24
DAILY SCRIPTURE READING: Genesis 3:14-22
KEY SCRIPTURE: “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.” Genesis 3:19

Some years ago, I read an insightful story about a pig. The simple fable tells of a pig that ate his fill of acorns under an oak tree. When the pig had finished eating, he started to root around the tree. There was a crow standing nearby, watching this. The crow remarked, “You should not do this. If you lay bare the roots, the tree will wither and die." "Let it die," said the pig. "Who cares, as long as there are acorns?"  This story reveals that the pig was blind to the consequences of its actions and the impact it would have upon it.

In chapter three, God clearly revealed that actions have consequences. God could not ignore their actions. Sin and disobedience had to be addressed. He confronted the sin head on and pointed out the consequences for their actions. God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, ‘Cursed are you above all the livestock and all the 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.’” Genesis 3:14-15.

Eve also faced consequences for her actions. Scripture says, “To the woman he said, ‘I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing; with pain you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.’” Genesis 3:16.

Adam, too, faced the consequences of his actions. He could have closed his ears to her, but he did not. He listened to his wife and suffered the consequences for his actions. Scripture goes on to say, “To Adam he said, ‘Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat of it,’ ‘Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of 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.” Genesis 3:17-19.

Years ago, R. Cvikota wrote in the Wall Street Journal, “When you buy something for a song, you may have to face the music later on.” Consequences are the way that we often face the music for the choices we have made. With this in mind, we should choose carefully what we say and do. Adam and Eve were punished for their disobedience. Actions have consequences. As author, Leonard Sweet said, “Sooner or later, we sit down to a banquet of consequences.”

DAY 5 – JANUARY 27

SERIES: MAKERS AND BREAKERS

TITLE: “THE COST OF SIN”

WEEKLY SCRIPTURE READING: Genesis 3:1-24

DAILY SCRIPTURE READING: Genesis 3:22-24

KEY SCRIPTURE: “So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken.” Genesis 3:23

Annie Dillard, in her book, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, writes: “At the end of the island, I noticed a small green frog. He was exactly half in and half out of the water. He was a very small frog with wide, dull eyes. And just as I looked at him, he slowly crumpled and began to sag. The spirit vanished from his eyes as if snuffed. His skin emptied and drooped; his very skull seemed to collapse and settle like a kicked tent.

An oval shadow hung in the water behind the drained frog; then the shadow glided away. The frog skin bag started to sink. I had read about the water bug, but never seen one. "Giant water bug" is really the name of the creature, which is an enormous, heavy-bodied brown beetle. It eats insects, tadpoles, fish, and frogs. Its grasping forelegs are mighty and hooked inward. It seizes a victim with these legs, hugs it tight, and paralyzes it with enzymes injected during a vicious bite. Through the puncture shoots the poison that dissolves the victim's muscles and bones and organs--all but the skin--and through it, the giant water bug sucks out the victim's body, reduced to juice.”

Sin can suck the life God intends for us right out of us. The sin of Adam and Eve sucked the life that God had designed for them in the Garden of Eden right out of them. They were blinded to the consequences of their actions and their rebellion against God through disobedience. One of my former professors in college, by the name of W.T. Purkiser, used to say, “Sin would have few takers if its consequences occurred immediately.” Sin always carries a cost. They had so much, but sin sucked it all out of them.

Their innocence and blessing was ruined by sin. They were banished from the Garden of Eden that God had provided for them. Their lives were forever changed. They would never again enter the Garden God had provided for them. They would have to work the ground and labor faithfully to provide for their needs. Their disobedience sucked out the peace and provision God had given them. Author, Neil Strait wrote, “Sin does not serve well as gardener of the soul. It landscapes the contour of the soul until all that is beautiful has been made ugly, until all that is high is made low, until all that is promising is wasted. Then life is like the desert-parched and barren. It is drained of purpose. It is bleached of happiness. Sin, then, is not wise, but wasteful. It is not a gate, but only a grace.”