Eve: A Lesson in Choices

We’ve spent the month sharing values and leadership lessons from women of the Bible. And, the importance for leaders to identify their core values and use those core values to guide their decisions. This week we are taking a look at Eve and the lessons learned when making choices.

Eve, Mother of All Living

Eve was the first woman created by God. Eve’s name means the mother of all living – and I believe it’s a huge responsibility to bear such a title! Eve lived with Adam in a beautiful garden. God’s plan for them was simple. They would be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth with their descendants and experience the fullness of God’s blessings with one condition, they were forbidden to eat fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. 

One day, as Eve was enjoying the bounty of God’s blessings, she was unexpectedly approached by a serpent and tempted by the serpent’s crafty use of words. This is typically how leaders are tempted. They are moving forward minding their own business when along comes an offer that is just too enticing to dismiss. In this case, the serpent questioned God’s word and created doubt and confusion in the mind of Eve.

Eve allowed the serpent to influence her and she ate the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Eve’s curiosity got the best of her, and she took a bite of the forbidden fruit based on the deceitful words of the serpent. But Eve had a choice, she could have refused to believe the words of the crafty serpent. In fact, she enjoyed the fruit so much that she convinced Adam to do the same! Do you see a pattern? The serpent tempts Eve and Eve turns to Adam and encourages him to take a bite of the forbidden fruit!

Strong Leaders Accept the Consequences

Isn’t it just like us to be given so much but always want or expect more? From verses Genesis 1:29-31, we see God had given Adam and Eve “every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed; to you it shall be for food. Also, to every beast of the earth, to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, in which there is life, I have given every green herb for food”; and it was so. Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good.”

Here are two significant leaders, the first man and the first woman created in the image of God, who had been blessed beyond measure. However, there was a straightforward request God had made – do not eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. But at this one fleeting moment, Eve just couldn’t help herself and fell to her desires and the cunning influences of the serpent. There’s a fundamental lesson here – there are always consequences when we submit to our desires.

Strong Leaders are Truthful

Eve learned quickly that God was not happy with her decision. As God approached the garden, Adam and Eve hid. This is also typical of us when we disobey. We hide. We step further into the darkness due to the shame of our poor choices, and this is just where Satan wants us. He wants us to run from God and allow the feelings of guilt and shame to take over, so we run from God and not run to God. Thankfully, Eve admitted her disobedience although it took a few inquiries from God before she came clean. Both Adam and Eve tried to shift the blame of their poor choice to one another or the serpent. 

Strong Leaders Accept Responsibility

Strong leaders accept responsibility for their poor choices. Too often, Eve is seen as a temptress, self-indulgent, or shrewd due to her disobedience. Was Eve a flawless human who made perfect choices? No. Was Eve a temptress seeking to lead her husband astray? No. Did Eve accept responsibility for her actions and find happiness and redemption at the feet of God? Yes, she did. 

Eve is a success story because she chose to accept responsibility and be held accountable for her actions, trading in her shame and her sorrows, in exchange for the promise of a new life in the Lord.

Confess, Admit, and Believe

When Eve took responsibly and admitted her sin to God, she experienced the grace of God. We too can experience God’s grace and forgiveness when we disobey or make poor choices. We may still suffer the consequences of our actions, but we can experience forgiveness and restoration just as Eve if we confess, admit, and believe.

Are there any areas of your life, personal or professional, that you need to realign or seek repentance? If so, I encourage you to run to God and confess your transgressions, so you too may receive His grace just as Eve received God’s grace and became the mother of all.

Romans 10:9-10 (NKJV)

“that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”