Psalm 103:1-2 Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits:

Forget, yes, forget, I am better at that than remembering. I need to be reminded more often than I would like to admit. Such is the case this morning. Maybe I knew it applied to me, perhaps I thought it only applied to her, I don’t remember. So I have to look at it again with fresh eyes.

Genesis 3:5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.

Nothing makes you want to be like God more than being with God. This was the temptation of Satan based on Satan’s personal experience. Satan’s original sin was wanting God’s glory for himself. The cause of Satan’s tempting Eve we can go into later. Right now I would like to speak to ambition, and personal ambition at that.

We who have accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior are in a restored state of relationship. As sons and daughters of the Most High God we are privileged to come into His presence. At the center of that relationship is love and the building of trust. The core of any loving relationship has to be built around trust. The more we trust God the more he can do for us and the more He can trust us, the more benefits we receive. This is why I began with the opening verse.

God gives good gifts and like all gifts we want to receive them unto ourselves, make them ours. In doing so we run the risk of using them for our own ambition. Those gifts were not given to us for that purpose. They were given to enhance our relationship with God and to serve His will. Using them to serve our own selfish ambition is where things go wrong.

Great men and women of God have been very successful in remembering those gifts are meant to serve God’s will. We might see only the success and say “Hey, I can do that!”

Maybe that is what Eve said to herself just before she took and ate?