“Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, ‘Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?'” – Genesis 3:1
No, God never actually said that! However, this is how Satan, that crafty old serpent, often works. He love to twist and distort God’s Word, creating questions about things that are very, very clear. The devil sows confusion and invites God’s people to question the motives of their loving Creator. His goal is to pull us further and further from the bedrock truth of God’s Word until we’re easily tricked or enticed into sin, often convinced that it’s OK because of some carefully constructed (false) logic.
Sin will always be a temptation to us. However, the closer and deeper we are in God’s Word, the more difficult it is for the devil to confuse us about God’s will and ways. Make sure you are always anchored in God’s Word! Not a general affection for God’s Word. Reading and studying it for yourself. Every day! Meditating on what you’ve read, what it means, and how it applies to you. Every day! Memorizing it as Jesus did to resist the devil’s temptations.
The devil will still come at you, but he will have a much harder time beating you if you know what God’s Word actually says rather than what you kinda, sorta think it says. Don’t let the devil twist God’s Word to fool you… Get in your Bible and #FollowJesus!