If this were a Bible class and you were reading from the Bible in your hands, I would have you take out a highlighter and highlight every time the word “see” or “saw” appears in this passage. Since you are reading it online, use your imaginary highlighter instead!

Genesis 3 (The Message)

3 The serpent was clever, more clever than any wild animal God had made. He spoke to the Woman: “Do I understand that God told you not to eat from any tree in the garden?”

^2-3 The Woman said to the serpent, “Not at all. We can eat from the trees in the garden. It’s only about the tree in the middle of the garden that God said, ‘Don’t eat from it; don’t even touch it or you’ll die.’”

^4-5 The serpent told the Woman, “You won’t die. God knows that the moment you eat from that tree, you’ll see what’s really going on. You’ll be just like God, knowing everything, ranging all the way from good to evil.”

⁶ When the Woman saw that the tree looked like good eating and realized what she would get out of it—she’d know everything!—she took and ate the fruit and then gave some to her husband, and he ate.

⁷ Immediately the two of them did “see what’s really going on”—saw themselves naked! They sewed fig leaves together as makeshift clothes for themselves.

See/saw/sinned/sewed. It was a quick downhill slide! And that LYING snake, twisting God’s words for the first of many, many times. But I want us to focus on how “seeing” is the first step in the downhill slide of sinning.

When the Woman SAW that the tree LOOKED like good eating….it started with that. Eve looked at something she was told to pass by, but instead she stopped to contemplate it. Every sin we willingly participate in begins the same way. Adultery, lust, coveting, greed, stealing, killing, etc. all begins with looking at something we can’t have, and taking it anyway.

When the forbidden fruit was consumed, the two of them did “SEE what’s really going on-SAW themselves naked! So once the covenant with God was broken, the cover-up began. The lies took over, the shame took hold, and the trust was fractured. Sin replaced love as they tried to hide from the Father. Aren’t we just like that? When the threat of exposure of our sins takes hold, we lie through our teeth to try to prevent everyone knowing what we’ve done and who we truly are.

So the question for us this Lent morning is, what are you looking at? What’s in your hand? What temptation has Satan put in your view that is calling you to sin against God?

Look away. You can avoid the whole downward spiral right now by looking away, walking away, and telling Satan to beat it.