Pre- Sin and the Reaction

~Tracy Frederick

There is a science…..or is it physics? rule….or is it a law? Well, anyway, that says that for every action there is a reaction….or something like that. I’ve been meditating on this concept for a while now. I’ve considered: an alcoholic wasn’t born an alcoholic, the affair didn’t begin with strangers meeting for sex in the hotel room, the liar wasn’t born a liar..and we could go on and on, but you get the idea, right? I have been considering lately what I will call “pre-sin.” I have been considered how little we pay attention to something until it happens, until we fall… once again…sometimes for the same sin… and realize that we are where we are- the horrible embarrassment of sin, watching our families fall apart, or in private agony and shame. It doesn’t happen instantly, but it feels that way, doesn’t it? One minute everything seems fine, the next, guilt, remorse, tears, prayers for forgiveness. How does it happen? Our God slides in a phrase that explains it all in the account of the very first sin. I’ve read the passage many times, heard the account in Bible class, but teachers never discussed it. This part seemed to be missing from sermons. But, in this passage my Father is warning me, warning us; teaching us how to deal with pre-sin, those things that happen before I sin, that lead me to sin. The answer was there all along.  In Genesis 3:17 most of focus on: “…[you] have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat of it….” And yes, that was the sin or the reaction, if you will, but God says that this was not Adams first mistake, it was his second. Notice what God tells him first: “Because you have heeded the voice of your wife…” Yep, this was Adam’s pre-sin, or action. Rather than considering the words of his Creator, the one who gave him life, he turned to an earthly person as his advice giver. That was the mistake that moved him to sin. Too often we consider the words of a person who wrote some self-help book, or a friend, although kind and well-meaning, but still a part of the world, to give us advice. Have you considered the pain that God must have felt when Adam listened to Eve?  I mean, He made Adam, He created a beautiful garden for him, and gave him the perfect mate. But, when the time came in which Adam was tempted, he turned to the other person, no smarter than he was- not the Creator of the Universe. Now I can’t remember the science, or physics, or whatever law that says that every action has a reaction- you probably do, but I know that God does. We don’t just “back up into” sin. We make the decision; we make the choice. The question is-when we are faced with pre-sin, situations that entice us to disobey, where do we go? We will go somewhere for that advice, ourselves, our friends, or our God. It is at this point, this place that makes all the difference in the action we take, the path we will follow and the reaction we get from our Creator.