Deception crept into perfection, and the world has been staggering ever since. God provided the perfect setting for Adam and Eve, and the devil duped them. He masterminded the most destructive trick or treat that there ever has been. He has not lost his clever edge when it comes to dealing with us. He makes sin look good and God look unreasonable.
The truth of God was plain and simple. Do not eat or you will die. The setting was pristine. No environmental concerns or bad influences had yet intruded on that paradise on earth. It could not have been any better, and there was just one condition to keep it that way: Stay away from that tree. They stumbled, and the tumble has been underway to this day.
Ease and comfort are not always the best conditions for maintaining our spiritual equilibrium. God warned of the pitfalls of prosperity when the Israelites were still making their way through the wilderness (Deut. 8:11-20). Success has a way of dulling our sacred senses. A full stomach can lead to an insensitive heart. A nice house takes our attention off of that heavenly mansion. We forget how puny we are when we acquire a little worldly power. It is a dangerous thing to be too prosperous.
The church in Laodicea had fallen for the deception. They had more money than sense, and it was reflected in what they said and did. Their mediocrity turned the stomach of the Lord. A wave of nausea swept over Him when He considered them. Their big bank accounts produced a self-sufficiency that resulted in a sickening uselessness. Their arrogance said it all. They felt that they needed nothing (Revelation 3:17). Their blind eyes could not see the miserable condition in which they lived. Could our vision possibly be so distorted?
The expectations of God are not so complicated that we cannot understand them. Adam and Eve certainly did, and they chose to forsake them. It is always our choice. That serpent is still pushing his lies, but it is up to us whether to buy into them or not. The first couple did, and the consequences have never changed. Death will forever be the result. It is the devil’s deception that it is not so.