2002 The Warning Label

BIG Life Devotional | Daily Devotional for Women

I once thought living in full surrender to God would mean my life would become boring. I thought all my fun would end. So, for years I held back. I offered parts of me, while my hands were clinched tightly on my greatest desires. I just knew if I offered it all to God, he would take the best parts away and leave me with a life I didn’t love.

Wow – was I wrong.

This life lived in wild abandon and total trust in God is the greatest adventure I’ve ever been on. My hands are wide open and I’ve let go of everything, and somehow my life is absolutely overflowing. Those desires I was so afraid to surrender have been changed into even greater things and made realities.

Why didn’t anyone tell me how good this would be? Instead, I lived so many years of my life fearful of what God might take away from me and suspicious of what he was withholding from me.

Does God hold back the good stuff when we trust him? Can the best stuff only be found on your own, apart from a life of surrender? Do you have to make things happen for yourself? Do you have to look out for #1? Do you have to question God?

Let’s be very clear – living like that will cause you to fall. You will fall for the tricks of the enemy of your soul when you begin to think God is keeping something from you. You will fall right into the traps of Satan when you try to get what you want in your own ways. When what you want takes first place and God is put in second, the door is open for absolute destruction in your life.

My friends, that’s precisely what happened to Eve in the garden. She was tricked into believing God was withholding the best stuff from her. She thought there was something better for her that God had been hiding. And that’s exactly how it happens. A seed of doubt is planted, questioning if God is holding out on you, so you’re willing to go around him to get what you think you want.

What is sin? It’s what God says you shouldn’t do, right? Actually, no. This isn’t about what you should and shouldn’t do. Sin is so much more about what falls short of God’s best for you. Sin isn’t just the forbidden things you’re not supposed to do, sin is what will harm you. Sin is the very thing God is trying to protect you from. Not because he’s withholding the good stuff from you and labeling it as sin. Actually, quite the opposite. God is protecting us from the things he knows would harm us the most. The things that cause shame, guilt and regret. The things that separate us from him. The things that confuse us, bind us, create addictions and separation.

But do you know what Satan says? Satan says it’s only called sin to keep you from experiencing more in life. It’s not that bad. It won’t hurt you. You’ll just get to see what you’ve been missing.

We live in a fallen world where Satan and his demons roam around like a roaring lion, trying to kill, steal and destroy everything that is good. You are good. Your life is good. The purpose for which you were created is good. The plans God has for your future are good. And it’s all under absolute attack. Everything good has a bullseye for evil. To fight this battle, it is crucial for you to know how the enemy attacks.

How does he trick us? What does he say?

Here it is – Satan quite simply TWISTS God’s words in a way that makes you feel like something is missing. He twists what isn’t good for you into looking like something that would make you happy. And he tricks you into doing things that will make you hide in shame.

You see, once you know Satan’s game, you can quickly see his nasty moves. In a nutshell, the devil tries to make you think sin is not bad and God is not good.

Sin is considered sin because God says it’s not good for you. Sin will hurt you. Don’t you think your creator knows what will hurt his creation? I have a Nutribullet blender in my kitchen. On the cord is a permanent tag that reads, “Never immerse in water.” I trust the manufacturer of that blender knows what isn’t good for their product. I don’t need to throw it in my kitchen sink to see if they really know what they’re talking about. Wouldn’t it be absolutely ridiculous for me to believe, “hmmmm, maybe this blender can do even greater things if I immerse it in water and maybe the maker doesn’t want me to know that. Maybe they’re holding out on me, so I’m going to have to try this on my own.” Splash.

Stupid. That would be so stupid.

The maker knows what isn’t good for their product. You must trust the warning label.

Adam and Eve were given one warning label. Just one. They were put in the middle of paradise in the Garden of Eden and given everything they could ever want. And then the warning label, Genesis 2:16, “God warned him, ‘You may freely eat the fruit of every tree in the garden – except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If you eat its fruit, you are sure to die.” It’s the equivalent of “Never immerse the blender in water.” It won’t be good.

Then here comes Satan who has shown up as a serpent in the garden. And he asks a question in Genesis 3, “Did God really say you must not eat the fruit from any of the trees in the garden?”

Now notice how Satan works – he engages Eve in a conversation. He baits her with a question that’s intentionally twisted. Then, he simply convinces her that what she’s been told would be bad isn’t REALLY bad, and that perhaps GOD isn’t good. Maybe God is just holding back the good stuff. Maybe her trust in God is causing her to miss out.

Satan says, “You won’t die! God knows that your eyes will be opened as soon as you eat it, and you will be like God, knowing both good and evil.”

Yeah, just go ahead and take a little bite – it’s not bad for you. Take a drag, try the pill, here have a drink. Just a little peek. Try this. Go ahead and do it. Just one time, it will feel good. All those rules that tell you not to are just trying to take away your freedom. Your parents just always wanted to control you. God just doesn’t want you to have any fun.

Hear that? COULD THAT BE SATAN?

Eve fell for the twisted suggestions of Satan, thinking God just didn’t want her to have the best stuff in the garden and she committed the very first sin by eating the one fruit God told her not to eat. Then here comes Adam, convinced something good was happening without him and he ate the fruit too.

And my friends, Satan is still doing it today! We’re blindly throwing blenders in a sink of water because we think the maker might be holding out on us with their restricting warning label. IF GOD SAYS IT’S NOT GOOD FOR YOU, THEN FOR REAL, IT’S NOT GOOD FOR YOU.

Satan says sin is not bad and God is not good. Satan says you have to push the limits and try some things to really live, and God says, “Honey if you want adventure, I’ll take you on the adventure of a lifetime if you fully surrender everything to me. What I have for you is best and if I withhold anything from you it’s because it wasn’t the best.”

You really can trust that! You don’t have to question God’s intentions. He is for you, not against you. He created you and he knows some things aren’t good for you. He knows some things will hurt you. He knows some things will eat away at you from the inside and cause you to hide in guilt and shame. That’s NOT what he wants for his girl. You can trust him.

Here’s a simple guideline to help us on our journey of living our best life with God while the enemy attacks: Resist don’t discuss.

When you hear a voice that makes you question anything God has said, you better run. When you see the twisting start to happen, lines being blurred, convictions being compromised, and the warning tags being torn off, you immediately think of Eve in the garden with the serpent. The serpent is the shrewdest of all. He is cunning and convincing. He’s slimy and and sneaky. DON’T MESS WITH HIM.

Eve’s first mistake was having a conversation with Satan. ABSOLUTELY NOT! God’s girls have zero business talking to the devil. He has NOTHING we need to hear. You stiff arm him and keep walking.

James 4:7, “Resist the devil and he will flee from you.” That doesn’t say have a conversation with the devil. That doesn’t say discuss things with the devil. No, RESIST HIM.

Think of a toddler who is resisting their mother. We’ve all seen it int he grocery store. Somehow that 3 year old is uncontrollable. They’re listening to absolutely nothing. They’re fighting, screaming, running. They’re not giving up. That resistant toddler uses every ounce of energy they have to break free of the desperate mother trying to hold them back. And THAT is what we’re supposed to do with the devil. You fight him HARD. You don’t listen to a word he says. You scream over him. You run.

Girl, why are you trying to reason with the devil? Why are you trying to taste what he is offering you and hope you get away with it?

The devil says sin is not bad and God is not good. He’s a liar from hell.

God is good. There’s nothing bad in him. He withholds no good things from his children. If God withholds something, it’s because it wasn’t good for us. You can trust him fully. You can live in complete surrender to him. If God says it’s not good for you, then it’s really not good for you and it would hurt you. Don’t mess with it. Don’t entertain it. Don’t hang around with it. Don’t talk about it. Don’t fantasize about it. RESIST IT. Get out of there!

Life lived in surrender to God, trusting his ways and his plans is anything but boring. Jump on in with me. What he has for you is better than anything the slimy devil could ever conjur up! You don’t have to hold back and fear the good stuff being taken from you by God. If he takes away the good stuff, it’s only to make room for the best stuff.

Your maker really does know what’s not good for you. Don’t immerse the blender in water. You can trust that without testing it.

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