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.

Then Saul outfitted David as a soldier in armor. He put his bronze helmet on his head and belted his sword on him over the armor. David tried to walk but he could hardly budge. David told Saul, “I can’t even move with all this stuff on me. I’m not used to this.” And he took it all off.” (1 Samuel 17:38- 39 MSG)

We experience failure when we put on armor, gadgets, personalities or styles that are “suited” for others but not for us. If David had worn that armor to fight Goliath, he would have lost the battle before it started. Goliath would have fed him to the dogs. He would have been minced meat. But thank God David rejected being like Saul. He refused to proceed with a tactic that even Saul could not use. We should not reinvent the wheel; we should renovate it.

In any and every battle we need to be courageous; we need faith; we need hope; we need persistence and determination. However, how we apply those virtues does not have to be exactly like others. David needed an armor to fight Goliath. But based on his uniqueness, he did not need an armor of steel; he needed an armor of skill. Five smooth stones and a sling shot did not necessarily do the job. It was his shield of faith in God, the helmet of salvation that God “got his back,” and the sword of God’s Word in his mouth that God would help him prevail, that did the job. It was these armor that provided the support for David to catapult the stone that brought down Goliath (1 Samuel 17:40-50; Ephesians 6:10-14).

David rejected Saul’s armor because he had no experience with it. David had experience with his own armor—the same one he used to protect his father’s sheep from a lion and a bear, both of which he took out with faith in God’s protection. He applied his experience with the animals against Goliath and prevailed.

We are not experienced in being other people. Some of us are even inexperienced in being ourselves because we’ve exhausted lots of time and energy and suffered defeat by trying to be like others. We should be ourselves. We should take time to begin to discover and cultivate the gifts, talents, abilities and personalities that God has placed in us. We should begin to express our hearts. If we don’t, well, like I’ve been discussing throughout this book, rejection is hired to cause us to dig deep into ourselves and withdraw the things that have been lying dormant in us.

Friend, reject trying to be like others. In your own unique way, you’re beautiful. If you haven’t discovered that, just be-you-to-full.

1. O. J. Toks, Rejected for a Purpose (Paoli, PA: Elevator Group Faith, 2010), 240 – 241.

Don’t try to be like other people. Don’t try to do things like them. Be yourself. One of the reasons why some people are unsuccessful at who they are and what they do is because they try to be like others. We can only be successful at being who we are. We’re all unique individuals. Trying to be like someone else is like a duck trying to be a squirrel. This is impossible! Is it any wonder we often disappoint ourselves? 

Some of us have not even scratched the surface on how special we are. That’s because we’ve spent most of our lives chasing the wind by trying to be and do things like other people. Don’t get me wrong; we should learn from others. Their success should inspire us to make something of ourselves, and their mistakes should dissuade us from making nothing of ourselves. However, how we go about applying what we learn from other individuals does not have to be exactly like the way they applied their learning experiences. 

I’m not saying that we should reinvent the wheel; if need be, we should renovate it. Some people don’t feel good about themselves because they’ve been comparing themselves to others. That is why some people feel that they are not beautiful. It’s been said that beauty lies in the eye of the beholder. We need to be the beholder of ourselves. 

In order to be beautiful, you need to be-you-to-full. Be yourself to the fullest. Be the unique person God created you to be. You’re beautiful! Behold your beauty! Behold yourself! God’s masterpiece. You are God’s masterpiece because you’re a piece of the Master. Genesis 1:26 revealed that God created you like Himself. You are a piece of God—the Master’s piece.

1. O. J. Toks, Rejected for a Purpose (Paoli, PA: Elevator Group Faith, 2010), 239 – 240.