Most people are taught the “original sin”
occurred when Eve disobeyed God's command given to her and Adam in
the Garden of Eden. In Genesis 1:15-17, God tells Adam that he is
free to eat from any tree in the garden except the tree of the
knowledge of good and evil. But in Genesis 3:1-13, Eve listened to
the words of “the serpent” (the Devil in disguise), ate from
the tree and enticed Adam with it too. So, sin is
labeled as anything that is disobedient to God.
An
important aspect of the “original sin” is being missed in
this explanation. In Matthew 22:36-38, Jesus is questioned about what
the Greatest Commandment is. He replies, “Love the Lord your God
with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.
This is the first and greatest commandment.” (NIV). If you love Him
with all you have, then there is no room for love of self. This is
the part we fail to emphasize in the talk about Original Sin. We
don't often speak about the motivation behind it, and focus only on
the fact that someone was not following God’s directions.
The New Testament says your actions as a Believer are to be out of love for others- not driven to “earn God's love” or prove yourself righteous. These two motivations focus on self, not others. It is important to understand that this has been the ultimate problem we will face as Christians- a battle against your own self seeking. It was the original sin that brought this about. In this one act, the Devil manages to deceive Eve by appealing to her self. He tells her in Genesis 3:1-5, “You will not certainly die...For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” This idea that she could be as big and good and wise as God was a hard temptation to fight, and thinking of herself, not her God, she made the choice. Now that desire to choose self interest will always be present in our souls.
The New Testament says your actions as a Believer are to be out of love for others- not driven to “earn God's love” or prove yourself righteous. These two motivations focus on self, not others. It is important to understand that this has been the ultimate problem we will face as Christians- a battle against your own self seeking. It was the original sin that brought this about. In this one act, the Devil manages to deceive Eve by appealing to her self. He tells her in Genesis 3:1-5, “You will not certainly die...For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” This idea that she could be as big and good and wise as God was a hard temptation to fight, and thinking of herself, not her God, she made the choice. Now that desire to choose self interest will always be present in our souls.
It
is incredibly important that we recognize that selfishness and self
centeredness will be one of our greatest temptations and weaknesses
in our faith. Selfishness will drive the majority of sin we encounter in our
time here on Earth. For example, greed or love of money, is discussed in Matthew 6:24, and again in 1 Timothy 6:10. It is described as the “root of all kinds of evil.” I challenge that
it is not simply a matter of the love of money that causes these
“kinds of evil.” I believe it
is a matter of selfishness. What drives someone to be greedy but a
desire to make themself happy with things only money can provide? In
thinking of what they can do for themselves with newly gained money,
they quickly forget concern for how making and having this money will
affect others.
Remembering
that self serving is the exact opposite of what God calls for doesn't
mean that you, your needs and wants, cease to be important. It means
you need to recognize that pleasing yourself first comes naturally,
and that you must be on guard so that you don't fall into a pattern
of following those feelings all the time. Keep in mind that putting
yourself first means you cannot put God first as we are told to do in
the greatest commandment.
“Do
nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility
value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but
each of you to the interests of others.” Phillipians 2:3-4
