At face value, it seems like such a trivial thing. Just a bite from a piece of fruit. What real harm could come from that?

Even in God’s eyes, the fruit is not the problem. The real problem lies deep within all of us. Disobedience, from a nagging desire to have what we want, when we want it. We desire control of our own lives, even to our own destruction.

Adam’s disobedience drove him from the garden, and from the presence of God Himself. It drives that same wedge between us and God, today. We can not possibly walk closely with our Lord, while we pick and choose the areas of our obedience. In fact, any disobedience prevents any walk with Him.

God is so perfect in His holiness, that sin can not be in His presence. This means that our sin keeps us out. Any disobedience to God is sin, and precludes our coming into His presence.

Disobedience is a root sin. I mean by this, that other sins grow from it. God has told us what not to do, and when we do those things, the real sin is disobedience. For example; The fifth commandment says that we are to honor our father and mother (Exodus 20:12). Is it honorable to place them in a nursing home when they get too old to care for themselves? If their presence in our home puts too big of a crimp in our lifestyle, then our lifestyle needs to change, not God’s command. But, all to often, even in Christian homes, we choose to ignore the commands that make us uncomfortable or inconvenienced. A wedge is driven between us and God.

We are all guilty of this type of sin. There are parts of the Christian life that are hard. But, difficulty is not an excuse to sin. Difficult teachings are part of God’s plan to bring us closer to Him, so that we may walk with Him.

When we face those difficult, uncomfortable or inconvenient situations, we must remember that Jesus faced them, as well. "And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross"(Philippians 2:8). We must also remember that Jesus was obedient for our benefit. His obedience, which led to His death, is what God uses to let us, even as sinful as we are, into His holy presence.

With this in mind, can’t we be obedient to God’s commands? Jesus willingly died for us, yet so few of us are willing to give the small sacrifice of our obedience to Him.

The truly shameful part of our disobedience, is that God’s commands are really what is in our best interest. When He tells us to stay away from a particular activity, its because that activity is bad for us. Yet, our desire to experience what the world tells us is good, or pleasurable, causes us to ignore what God has done, in love, for us.

I have said many times, that Christianity is an all or nothing proposition. We can’t be partly Christian. Our whole life needs to be dedicated to serving God. Only when we have made this a reality in our lives, can God use us for the purpose He has in mind for us. We will then fully experience the joy of knowing and walking with Him.