Eve, the Epitome of Woman
Recently I’ve been reading a book called “Atomic Habits” by James clear. The book itself is all about easy and proven ways to build good habits and break bad ones. In the chapter on the cardinal rule of behavior James makes mention of the fact that our brains today are similar and make up and function as they were 200,000 years ago. So our ancestors and us have very similar wiring, which for some reading this are not too pleased to learn about. The point of me sharing this and bringing this up is that we have become a society that frowns upon instant gratification and instead desires what some call delayed return environments. Some examples of this are saving for retirement, exercising today so that you are not obese tomorrow and the like.
There was one phrase that stuck out to me when reading this that made me think of the first woman to ever walk the earth Eve. James clearly makes the point that “every habit produces multiple outcomes across time. Unfortunately, these outcomes are often misaligned. With our bad habits, the immediate outcome usually feels good, but the ultimate outcome feels bad.” But what does this have to do with Eve? Everything. Eve’s decision to go against God’s direction and eat the forbidden fruit was not any different than what many of us do today. We know that smoking causes cancer but the increased stress and nicotine addiction our bodies have built up justify our reasoning and our actions. Overeating during meal Time causes obesity, hypertension, high cholesterol, premature death, yet that second portion is satisfying at the moment. Eve seeing that the fruit was pleasing to the eye and making her wise ate the fruit and then gave some to her husband Genesis 3:3. Eve was not thinking about the consequence of disobedience to God, nor was she thinking about what long-term effects eating this fruit would have seeing as how she had never eaten it before. In that moment, she wanted what many of us want today, to know, to be satisfied and to be filled. The way that Eve went about fulfilling these needs is frowned upon by God and some of our very own decisions today and an effort to know, so we cheat on a test or to feel loved and fulfilled so maybe we cheat on the spouse. The desire to have our instant gratifications fulfilled now as James clearly writes ultimately leads to an outcome that feels bad. What habits or actions do you need to let go of?
When we look at the consequences of smoking and overeating and cheating on taxes or even our spouse, we see the varying levels of harm caused both to us and to those around us but what was Eve’s ultimate consequence? Women are now blamed for the arrival of sin on the Earth? Her desire will be for her husband and she will suffer pain during childbirth. Adam’s consequence was not any better but I have to argue that the childbirth part is worse than needing to work until the land mainly because of the consequence of death that it brings for so many women. Women are given the privilege and honor to create life but in doing so at times results in death.
I like Eve, having gauged and eaten the forbidden fruit and doing the things that I knew were contrary to the word of God. And I share though I am not proud of it, the immediate reward of these choices and therefore have repeated them. The only choice is to take on the mindset of Christ and develop a delayed return environment. Meaning that I don’t act out of my emotions or out of my desires to be evil or good, but instead I test and approve to see God’s good and pleasing and perfect will for my life before making decisions. Is this always fun? Absolutely not. But in learning from the women in the Bible, regardless of their particular biography, we can always come to a conclusion that brings us closer to God and further away from our natural and carnal selves.
