Are You Leading or Following?: Taking Responsibility

Recap

Our subject is: Taking Responsibility

We are in the Garden of Eden. We have 2 people, Adam and Eve. Satan approaches Eve while she is alone. He comes to her as a seeker of knowledge and enlightenment. But he soon gains the upper hand, making Eve doubt the motives of God behind forbidding them this one thing. Eve is deceived.

She succumbs to the seductive thinking, and eats the fruit. She then takes one to Adam, and he eats it. It is as simple as that. Adam eats the fruit. You will notice that I’ve purposely using fruit here. Some people want it to be an apple; some want it to be a pomegranate. Whatever!

Paul tells us in the New Testament that there was a basic difference between Adam’s sin and that of Eve’s. Eve was deceived, but Adam was not (see 2 Corinthians 11:3; 1 Timothy 2:14).

Why did Adam disobey?

Why did Adam disobey? And why does he carry the burden of this sin?

Who is the leader here?

If we look at Genesis 3:17, we can see that God found Adam guilty for obeying Eve. Adam did not do one of his jobs, leadership. He did not lead; he followed. He did what his wife advised him to do, rather than what God had commanded him to do.

Adam was standing where. exactly?

You know what, if you look at verse 6 it seems that Adam was actually with Eve this whole time. Read it. It sounds like he was standing right there next to her. She didn’t have to walk a mile across the garden to find him and offer this to him. He was there all along.

When the woman saw that the tree produced fruit that was good for food, was attractive to the eye, and was desirable for making one wise, she took some of its fruit and ate it. She also gave some of it to her husband who was with her, and he ate it (Genesis 3:6).

No wonder Adam so quickly ate of the forbidden fruit! He was there all the time. Adam was supposed to rule over creation. Adam was to lead his wife. His authority over her was evident by his priority in being created first. And then with her, they were to rule over creation. And yet we see Adam standing silently by as this creature deceives his wife and blasphemes God.
What was he thinking?
How could he do so? Was he so enthralled by her beauty that he simply obeyed her, and knowingly disobeying God?

We will never know for sure why Adam obeyed his wife, but we do know that he did her, rather than lead her and guide her. And for this, he was guilty of sin.

What’s the practical application?

Where is your voice when you things are being done incorrectly?

Where are your articulation and your great wisdom, when your teammates are about to fall into a trap?

Where is your ability to speak when your children are out of control and being led astray by their friends?

Do you stand idly by?

Have you been standing carelessly right next to the situation?

God is the head of our lives!

What are you doing for those who you are the head of? 

What can you do today to turn someone's life in a different direction?                                  

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