Then the eyes of both of them were opened,and they knew that they were naked;.--Genesis 3:7a,b
To My Sweet Daughters,
Satan had promised Eve that she would know good and evil if she ate the fruit of the tree. Satan was right...Adam and Eve gained the knowledge Satan promised would come...but at what price. They received it through disobedience so the knowledge they received was corrupted. They did not know as God knows...in perfect holiness.
Sin destroyed their innocence and guilt over their sin made them want to hide in shame. They now had to rely on their conscience to distinguish good from evil instead of God. Guilt is not a bad thing. It is your conscience's early warning signal that you have sinned and need to repent and turn and go in the other direction. It is a gift from God. The last thing we want to do is ignore a guilty conscience or attempt to placate it. Doing so will eventually cause our conscience to become hardened and seared and no longer know or care to distinguish right from wrong. I don't think we can imagine the onslaught Adam and Eve's conscience must have taken at the moment when they gained the ability to see and know evil for the first time. I can only liken it to a child's loss of innocence in learning that the world is not safe and that evil abounds. Below is an excerpt from Corrie Ten Boom's The Hiding Place that speaks to this very issue so well.
"And so seated next to my father in the train compartment, I suddenly asked, "Father, what is sex sin?"
He turned to look at me, as he always did when answering a question, but to my surprise he said nothing. At last he stood up, lifted his traveling case off the floor and set it on the floor.
"Will you carry it off the train, Corrie?" he said.
I stood up and tugged at it. It was crammed with the watches and spare parts he had purchased that morning.
It's too heavy," I said.
Yes," he said, "and it would be a pretty poor father who would ask his little girl to carry such a load. It's the same way, Corrie, with knowledge. Some knowledge is too heavy for children. When you are older and stronger, you can bear it. For now you must trust me to carry it for you."
Some knowledge is too heavy for a child to carry. We need to protect what they see and what they hear. The knowledge gained is not helpful or edifying and focuses their attention on the wrong things. There is much time to learn about the evils of the world. While they are young (and have ears to hear), it is good to teach them about Jesus and allow them to grow in His grace and His knowledge.
As parents we begin to teach our children from the moment they are born how to be independent and responsible. This is our job. At the same time that we are teaching them independence from us we should also be modeling dependence on Him. In short, we are to give them Jesus. Our Father in heaven's desire for us, His children, is the opposite of what we desire for our own kids. He wants us to learn dependence...specifically dependence on Him. Jesus is our model here. Look at His life on earth. He said nothing and did nothing outside of the Father's will and depended on His Father in and for everything. While teaching our children to be self-sufficient and independent, we should also be training them up in the Lord. This is our most important job. It is our God given ministry. Knowledge and independence gained without God is deadly and leads to the sin of pride and ultimately eternal separation from the Father. Example to your children dependence on Him...their Creator...their Savior and their Lord.
Before Adam and Eve sinned they walked with God in the cool of the day and were in constant communion with Him. They depended on God to answer all their questions both large and small. This is what God wants for us. This is the intimate kind of relationship He wants to see us example to our children and to those He places in our lives. We are to walk with Him in total dependence moment by moment... to be in constant contact with Him. With the Lord we can always be a child...we can allow Him to carry our burdens, make perfect those things that concern us and rest in His arms when we are hurting, tired or afraid. The world is a big, scary place filled with sadness and anguish. We are not in control...give your children access to the One to whom they can go to boldly for grace and help in time of need. Make sure they know the One who embodies Hope...both in this world and in the next. Do not let your children leave home without Him. They will need Him to be their Savior, their Hope, their Rock, their Defender and their Strong Tower in the trials and storms of this life.
There are no guarantees that in doing this your children will walk with the Lord, but thankfully the results are not up to us. Our job is to do those works that He prepared beforehand. Obey...give them Jesus and you have given them everything they need...the rest is between them and their Lord.
Love
Mom
