COMMUNICATION – IS CRUCIAL Communication played a crucial role when Man first sinned and lost the right to live in happiness in the garden of Eden. The devil was a better manager/planner of the types and effectiveness of communication, as a result the whole of Humanity lost for all eternity our friendship and closeness with the Creator. It was not simply Eve’s disobedience followed by that of Adam. God’s Command to Adam: In Gen 2:8-9, we see that God planted many trees inside the garden of Eden, and put the man he had created in it. We also see that among the many trees, there were TWO which were very significant, “the Tree of life” and “the Tree of knowledge of good and evil”. In Gen 2:16-17 we read that God commanded the man “You may freely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die” [ please note that the woman (Eve) was not even created at this time] First Earthly Romance: In Gen 2:22 we see the creation of the woman from man, and man declaring “ This at last is bone of bones and flesh of my flesh” [this initial period seems to be first recorded event in romantics and courtship where the first man and woman lived/loved in a state of heavenly joy. [Its quite possible that as Adam conveyed it in this romantic mood, Eve did not fully realize the importance of God’s command. Here lay the “communication gap” which Satan could cleverly use or misuse if you can call it. Satan the Evil Planner: In all these happenings the devil is silently watching and his nature is described in Gen3:1, “Now the serpent was more crafty than any other ….” The devil knew that God had given a command to the man something with respect to the trees in the garden, and that the woman had most probably been told by the man. So Satan goes to her and not the man. Next came the second crafty googly. In Gen 3:1 Satan appears in all innocence and queries from Eve “ Did God say You shall not eat from any tree in the garden.” Satan is playing two tricks. (1) Provoking Eve’s ego, of not knowing what the man was told by God (2) Hoping that Eve would commit the mistake of indicating the wrong tree – remember there were the Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge. The sad fact was that Eve fell into the trap of the devil and the rest is known to all of us. The devil’s question was simply if God had said anything about eating from any tree. Without any ego, or feeling of self-importance, Eve simply had to say to Satan “Go and ask Adam.” Ego ► Pride ► Lack of Trust in God ► Disobedience. Communication Traps of today: That is why in Eph 5:22 it is written as “Wives be subject to your husband as you are to the Lord…” and in 5:24 “ Just as the church is subject to Christ, so the wives ought to be in everything to their husband”. The most common complaint is that this is not suited for these modern times” It is a sad misconception. What is imperative is the need for husbands and wives, to communicate better, and avoid misunderstandings in daily life. Statistics are available in plenty, where the prime cause for “Family Quarrels, Separation, Unhealthy relationships and Divorces” is “COMMUNICATION GAP”, or “LACK OF COMMUNICATION”. In today’s modern age of both husbands and wives going to work, there are ample opportunities where “Communication” is NOT what it should be, leading easily Satan to exploit and destroy the family. The communication gap exists among everybody, and more so among Religious leaders/preachers. Dialogue and discussion is the need of the hour among the Christian churches if it’s the intention to build a church as desired by Jesus himself. Satan’s prime mission? In 1 Peter 5:8-9 “ Like a roaring lion, your adversary the devil prowls around looking for someone to devour” – and that applies to all, whether common man or woman or learned religious leaders/preachers who have a greater resposibility to work more for God’s kingdom, and less for their individual empires or congregations. “Let the Holy Spirit guide us to Communicate better”
Posted on: Wed, 29 Jan 2014 08:16:13 +0000