Too Much of a Good Thing?

I was giving my nephew a gardening lesson this morning, telling him that one must be careful not to add too much manure to the soil or plants will put all their energy into leaf production and subsequently fail to  produce much fruit.  Then I quipped  “All fig leaves and no fruit.”    At that moment I thought, what a parable that would make!   

In the perfect garden of Eden, Eve was tempted by the devil with things that she desired.  Perhaps she did not even realize she desired them until he pointed them out, for that is how the devil often works.   Clearly the Tree of Knowledge had been there since the beginning because Eve was aware of its existence. But when the devil suggested:

 “For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.”   Gen 3:5

Her attention was drawn to the fact that “they would be as gods.”  Despite the fact that Adam and Eve were well cared for, had a personal relationship with God and lacked nothing, the devil’s statement suggested that God was somehow holding something back.  Eve, in that very moment decided that she wanted that something.  In other words, what she had was no longer good enough.

“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.” Gen 3:6

That was the downfall of Mankind and when God’s perfect world became tainted with sin and death.  Lust for power, money and the material things of the world would send the entire human race plummeting to the kind of evil that leads to judgementalism, jealousy, covetousness, hatred and murder.  

“And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.” Gen 3:7

Up until that point in time, Adam and Eve were blissfully unaware that there was anything to be had outside of what God had already given them….all GOOD things.  They had no concept of good and evil, but once they did their first act was to cover their nakedness with fig leaves.   Their second act was to blame shift when questioned by God. Do we not struggle with that very thing today?   God then killed an innocent animal and clothed Adam and Eve with it’s fur because stripping leaves from a fig tree was simply not enough to atone for their crime. This was the first blood ever to be spilled, and it would not be the last. 

Christians today must be mindful not to focus on material things….even things that are not innately evil,  because such misplaced focus averts the eyes from being fixed on God and His providence.   Gazing in any direction other than toward the Savior will inevitably lead to a longing for more, discontentment,  and lack of gratitude.  Just as too much of a good thing in a garden can lead to all fig leaves and no fruit, so too can enriching ourselves with the perceived “good things” of the world lead to barren vines, for when the leaves are dried and stripped away by the wind, all that is left is a naked branch with nothing to show for the time spend on earth.