Jan 20, 2026
6 min read
The Bible opens with a story that feels ancient, but somehow painfully familiar.
Genesis 2:25 tells us, “Now the man and his wife were both naked, but they felt no shame.”
No fear. No hiding. No pretending. Just complete openness before the Lord.
Then Genesis 3 begins, and everything changes.
“The serpent was the shrewdest of all the wild animals the Lord God had made. One day he asked the woman, ‘Did God really say you must not eat the fruit from any of the trees in the garden?’”
That question—Did God really say?—isn’t just the first temptation in Scripture. It’s the same question that still echoes in our lives today.
When you step back, the opening chapters of Genesis mirror our own story. First, God creates. He creates the world, and He creates us… intentionally, lovingly, and with purpose. Then, God gives a choice. Adam and Eve were not robots. They were free to love God or walk away from Him. And finally, temptation enters the scene. The enemy shows up, not with obvious rebellion, but with subtle doubt.
Notice how Satan begins his attack. He doesn’t deny God outright. He questions God’s word. Did God really say?
Jesus explains this in Luke 8:12: “The seeds that fell on the footpath represent those who hear the message, only to have the devil come and take it away from their hearts and prevent them from believing and being saved.”
The devil comes immediately to steal the Word. He challenges God’s voice so doubt can take root.
What God gave Adam and Eve as a boundary felt restrictive. But this boundary was never meant to imprison them. This wasn’t the kind of freedom we associate with freedom of speech or religion. This was real freedom.
Adam and Eve were created to live in dependence on God. Just as a bird is meant for the sky and a fish for the water, humanity was designed to thrive in relationship with Him. Outside of that dependence, something breaks.
Then Satan shifts tactics. “You won’t die,” he says. “God knows that your eyes will be opened…
you will be like God.”
He doesn’t tell Eve to curse God or run wild. He offers something far more dangerous: a shortcut to godliness.
This is one of the greatest lies of religion. You can look godly on the outside while being disconnected from God on the inside. Any action rooted in disobedience does not make us godly, no matter how spiritual it appears.
Eve sees that the tree is beautiful. The fruit looks good. She desires wisdom. None of those things is evil. Eden was a place of delight, created by God Himself. The issue wasn’t desire—it was disobedience. What God created to be enjoyed was meant to be experienced within the context of trust and dependence on Him.
When they eat, the result is not what they expected.
Instead of becoming like God, they become aware of their guilt, shame, and condemnation. Innocence is lost. For the first time, they feel the need to hide. Sin enters the world, and shame follows immediately behind it.
That same shame still tries to convince us to cover ourselves today.
Jesus later says in John 14:15, “If you love me, obey my commandments.” That raises an important question: how do we fall in love with Jesus?
The answer might surprise you—love is a choice.
We often think love starts as a feeling, but Scripture shows us something different. Choices lead; feelings follow. Jesus says in Matthew 6, “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Notice it’s not the heart that moves first—it’s the action. When you choose obedience, affection grows.
And obedience becomes easier when you understand the depth of God’s love for you.
Think about when Jesus came to earth. Capital punishment was brutal. Public. Merciless. And yet, Christ willingly entered that world to demonstrate just how far God’s love would go to restore what was lost in Eden.
Paul prays in Ephesians 3:18–19 that we would “understand how wide, how long, how high, and how deep His love is… and experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully.” That kind of love doesn’t shame you. That kind of love heals you. That kind of love doesn’t push you away. That kind of love invites you closer.
The final step is simple, but often difficult: receive God’s love.
Many of us struggle here because we’ve spent so long living from the wrong tree (the tree of knowledge, striving, self-effort) that we don’t know how to rest in grace. But God is still calling us back to the tree of life, back to dependence, back to relationship.
God loves you. Not because you earned it. Not because you’ve never failed. But because He is love.
And today, you’re invited to stop hiding and receive it.