On this special occasion of Spiritual Sandwich’s first creation, there is no better place to start than ‘In the beginning…’ with Genesis.

We remember how God created the heavens and the earth and on the third day He ‘brought forth grass and the fruit tree that yields fruit according to its kind’ (Gen 1: 11). ‘God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good’ (Gen 1:31). Life in God’s Garden was incredible and Adam and Eve’s happiness was immeasurable – however that was not to last. Eve was tempted by a serpent (alias Satan) to eat the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil for which God had commanded them both not to touch and since then, humans have been pre-destined to experience the consequences of this sin – pain, immorality of all kind and death – a piece of FRUIT brought down the entire human race!!! FRUIT – Guilty as charged!!!!

FRUIT IS EVERYWHERE…EARTH IS DOOMED!! FRUIT IS A DANGEROUS TEMPTATION AND THE EATING OF FRUIT IS EVIL!!! REFRAIN FROM EATING FRUIT AT ALL COSTS!!! YOUR SOUL SALVATION IS AT RISK!!!

Most of us, if not all, know that fruit was indeed the innocent party – and it was Eve who was tempted by Satan to commit this most heinous crime against God and humanity. So where am I going with this?

Well – there are many potentially ‘innocent’ and ‘guilty’ parties in and outside of our churches that church-goers accuse of causing them to sin, or out of fear they choose to shun entirely. Other Christians, non-Christians, musical instruments, media equipment, make-up and jewelry (to name a few) are criticized/avoided by some church goers because they may have had unsavory associations and/or a questionable history within the secular world.  Well – surely we should add fruit to this list, after all, it did bring down the human race.

This argument seems nonsensical on the basis of a modest piece of fruit with no thought processes of its’ own putting together a plan to cause this notorious fall of mankind. In my humble opinion, it is not and has never been the object or person (whether we think it’s good or not) that causes us to sin. It is our own heart and sinful thoughts and motives that lead us there.

Let’s call a spade a spade and stop trying to pass the blame onto someone else… or some inanimate object. When we blame something or someone else – we lose power – God’s transforming power! Consequently, we give control to the person or thing, and deny ourselves the opportunity to acknowledge and take full responsibility for our sin, ask for complete forgiveness and make the complete transformation that will give us the power through Christ, to have victory over that particular sin.

Let’s not forget that Adam blamed Eve and God, and Eve blamed the snake, it is clear… some things are difficult to change…as humans inheriting a sinful condition, we love to place blame elsewhere! But do you want to be transformed? I do!!! Then let us then seek to claim the full power that God has given to each of us, by accepting full responsibility for the things we think and do, asking for forgiveness – and in doing so, we can claim the complete spiritual renewal that God has in store us.