Reading your Bible for Today July 5

July 5: Genesis 2:15-17

KJV Key Verse: Genesis 2:17
17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surelydie.

Devotion:
When God created us, He created a being which was far more capable than any other creature on earth. Each one of the creatures which He has created, He has given an instinct to. Each animal has been given instinctive thoughts which will allow them to survive. Some of them have been given a certain amount of intelligence to be able to mimic others and even to come up with new methods of survival. But to man, He gave intelligence and the ability to reason.

Because He created us with such intelligence and reasoning abilities, He warned Adam he should not go too far with his quest for knowledge. He warned Adam not to eat of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Adam was created with a mind which knew good only. He knew nothing of evil. But Between Adam and Eve, they were tempted into the quest for knowledge which only God should attain.

Because Adam and Eve took that step, we now live in a world which is becoming more and more evil. We do not have to imagine the horrible things which may happen in our lifetimes, because we are being shown them on the news! We do not have to imagine what horrors can come out of the world, because our cinemas are overflowing with films depicting horrors we would not have come up with by ourselves. Man has exceeded his own expectations on this front!

But does this stop us? No! We want to go just a little bit further! We want to stretch the boundaries which surround us. We want to push the limits a bit further. With the extra ability which God gave us comes a certain amount of responsibility. That responsibility should limit us to what we do. He has given us the instructions and the examples by which we should live, but we have to continue stretching things further and further until we break them! God's Word contains so much guidance we should never go wrong. God's Word contains so many warnings we should never err. God's Word needs to be the central point in our lives so we can walk with Him!

Points to Ponder:
How often do you dare people to do things?

How many times has God ever dared you to do something?
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