“The baby birds will fly tomorrow!” My wife, Cari, was elated about the progress a family of wrens was making in a hanging basket on our front porch. She’d watched them daily, taking pictures as the mother brought food to the nest.
Cari got up early the next morning to look in on them. She moved some of the greenery aside covering the nest but instead of seeing baby birds, the narrow eyes of a serpent met hers. The snake had scaled a vertical wall, slithered into the nest, and devoured them all.
Cari was heartbroken and angry. I was out of town, so she called a friend to remove the snake. But the damage was done.
Scripture tells of another serpent who left destruction in his path. The serpent in the garden of Eden deceived Eve about the tree God had warned her against eating from: “You will not certainly die,” he lied, “for God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil” (Genesis 3:4–5).
Sin and death entered the world as a result of Eve and Adam’s disobedience to God. The deception wrought by “that ancient serpent, who is the devil” continues today (Revelation 20:2). But Jesus came “to destroy the devil’s work” (1 John 3:8), and through Him we’re restored to relationship with God. One day, He’ll make “everything new” (Revelation 21:5).
By James Banks
REFLECT & PRAY
How has Jesus destroyed the devil’s work in your heart and life? What do you look forward to in Him?
Please deliver me, Jesus, from the devil’s deception. Saving God, give me grace to live for You!
SCRIPTURE INSIGHT
Jesus’ beloved disciple John recognized in the serpent’s temptation of Eve (Genesis 3:1–7) the fundamental temptations all people face. He wrote that “everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes from the . . . world” (1 John 2:16). His words echo Eve’s thoughts as she looked at the tree: it was good for food, pleased the eye, and would make one wise like God (Genesis 3:6). We all face the same kinds of temptations ( 1 Corinthians 10:13). Instead of giving in, however, the Spirit will help us to stand firm in the faith (Galatians 5:16; 1 Peter 5:8–9).
Jed Ostoich
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