When Shame Gets RealParaugs

Enough

What's curious about the serpent’s tactics in the Garden of Eden when deceiving Eve is that he didn’t argue, bluster, or bully. He didn’t negotiate, bargain, or bribe. His approach was far more subtle and deviously ingenious.

He just inserted a seed of doubt.

In Genesis, we read...

[Eve said] “Of course we may eat fruit from the trees in the garden,” the woman replied. “It’s only the fruit from the tree in the middle of the garden that we are not allowed to eat. God said, ‘You must not eat it or even touch it; if you do, you will die.’”

“You won’t die!” the serpent replied to the woman. “God knows that your eyes will be opened as soon as you eat it, and you will be like God, knowing both good and evil.”

When Eve heard the serpent’s retort, undoubtedly waves of questions flooded her mind.

Questions like:

Can I really trust God?

Does he really want the best for me?

Is He hiding something from me?

And… Am I really enough, or can I be even more?

The twist here is that when Eve bit that fruit she went from “being enough,” to “never will be enough” in the blink of an eye. It happened that fast—beautiful to hopelessly broken in less than a second.

Thankfully, God knew this, and that is why he sent us Jesus. Because on our own we are never enough and never will be. But with Jesus, we are more than enough.

Today’s Questions:

• Where in your life do you sometimes doubt that you are enough?
• What is it that you fear you will have to admit if you do come up short?
• How do you try to prove yourself when feeling inadequate?