Let’s revisit the story of Adam and Eve. Their disobedience started with evil company. The serpent communicated lies, which corrupted Adam and Eve. A little leaven of evil uttered into the ears of Eve leavened the whole lump of herself, her husband and mankind. This includes you and I.
The serpent fed Eve’s flesh with his deception. Her natural desires were further aroused when she looked at the tree and contemplated the alleged benefit from eating its fruit. Her eyes might have saturated with water. Her throat might have run dry as she longed for the forbidden fruit. The image of the fruit in all its lusciousness on her retina—the moisture dripping very slowly and mellifluously from its glistening exterior, accentuated by its bright rich color—the thought of sinking her canine in its meat—and the feel of its juice snaking down her esophagus may have proved a temptation too irresistible to reckon with.
And what was Adam doing? Instead of head-butting the serpent for flirting with his woman, and repudiating his comments to her which was feeding her flesh, he should have been feeding her spirit with God’s words to him, for them. Rather, just like she was checking out the tree’s fruit, knowing how some of us men are, it stands to reason that he was checking out Eve’s body’s fruits. You know what I mean? In other words, he was feeding his flesh too.
Please don’t get too sacrilegious on me. This is just my take, okay? You can refute my implication that Adam was checking out Eve because the Bible did say that they were naked and not ashamed. Yeah, I bet Adam was not ashamed seeing his wife naked. Perhaps that explains why he lost is focus.
Whichever case, the moral of this account is that their flesh was fed by what they heard, and saw, courtesy of the devil’s bad company. This resulted in the destruction of the integrity of their relationship with God, and compromised God’s perfect will for mankind. Since God is always ahead of satan, He repaired the breach through Christ. Through Him, whosoever wills is able to be reconciled to God.
Last but not the least, is David. The greatest king Israel ever had. He was considered a man of war. Even so, what is a man of war, Israel’s commander-in-chief, doing on the roof of his house peeping like Tom at a woman taking her bath, while his men were at war probably dodging sharp steel blades of spears and swords aimed at their throats—getting dragged around and trampled on by horses—on dirt mixed with horse poop and mostly Ammonite cadavers? He was feeding his flesh.
The sight of the naked and very beautiful woman, Bathsheba, who might have possessed a voluptuous body etched with more curves than a Lamborghini Countach, sparked the natural desires of his flesh. This drove him to inquire about her and give her a bootie call.
He fulfilled his lust for her by having sex with her. And what was the result of yielding to his flesh?
1. Adultery, since she had her own husband, Uriah, who was one of David’s men in battle.
2. A child out of wedlock, since he impregnated her.
3. Deception, as he brought Uriah back from the battle and tried to cajole him by wining and dining him until he got drunk. Furthermore, he asked him to go home to his wife, probably believing he’ll sleep with her and it’ll look like David’s child was really Uriah’s.
4. Murder, since David’s deception did not work, he sent Uriah back to the war, and got him killed by instructing the captain of his troops to place him right in the heat of the battle.
5. Death. The death of the child was another consequence of David’s sin. There were more deaths in David’s family, and subsequent generations because of his iniquity.
With these examples in mind, it is best for you to avoid, resist, and flee anything that incites your natural evil desires so that you can keep your flesh in control. I encourage you to embrace God’s guidelines, which inspire your Christ-like spirit to hearken unto His voice.
God’s Word is the food for your spirit, gasoline that fuels your spirit, and the oxygen your spirit breathes. It is the life line on which your spirit thrives, and the Viagra that drives your spirit. It’s His sayings in the Bible that inspire Godly attitudes, invigorates Godly character, which results in Godly actions.
Feast your eyes on His words by reading your Bible. Vibrate your ear drums with His sayings by speaking them to yourself, listening to messages from your Pastor, and other dedicated Christians you know of—either personally, or through television, radio and the internet. Also confirm if their messages are true by cross-checking them in your Bible. You can also be edified by listening to good inspirational music like gospel. Be it Praise & Worship, Classical, Jazz, Rock, Contemporary, Pop, R&B, Hip Hop, and Country just to mention a few.
At all times carry faith as a shield; for with it you will be able to put out all the burning arrows shot by the evil one. And accept salvation as a helmet, and the Word of God as the sword which the Spirit gives you. (Ephesians 6:16-17 GNB)
1. O. J. Toks, While You Are Single (Paoli, PA: Elevator Group Faith, 2015), 58 – 61.
