Temptation

And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. – Genesis 3.6

Good for food
Pleasant to the eyes
To make one wise

It is interesting to see the specifics Satan used to tempt Eve. It is interesting because these three draws are the same basic temptations that Satan uses throughout the word of God. These are the same basic three things Satan used to tempt Jesus in the desert and they are the same things that John talks about when he talks about the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life.

Most of the temptations we face today can be put in the same categories. What appeals to us to draw us to sin?

The things that appeal to our fleshly bodies. It may be substances or sex our unhealthy foods or whatever. These are the things that lead us to gratify our flesh in any way.

She also saw what was ‘pleasant to the eyes.’ These are the things that John called the ‘lust of the eyes.’ There is plenty out there that appeals to the things we see and get us distracted from walking with Christ.

And then there are the things that are ‘desired to make us wise’ or as John puts it, the ‘pride of life.’  There is nothing wrong with godly wisdom. There is nothing wrong with book learning but there is wrong with striving to think we know more than God. That is the pride of life.

These are the things that tempted Eve to sin. These are the same things that Jesus faced and did not sin. These are the things that we face today. What are we going to do?