In Genesis 1:31, God definitively stamped His Divine approval on His creation with a simple and succinct description of all that He made: “very good.”
God’s new world teemed with life, balance, harmony, and abundance. Every creature flourished in God’s creation, neither lacking nor encountering any categorical deficiency. Humankind, the pinnacle of God’s creation, enjoyed fellowship with God, and their design perfectly complemented one another and their environment.
Undoubtedly, humankind walked in joyful satisfaction, having every need met within God’s new order and thriving garden. Their instructions could not be clearer and more beneficial to them and their surroundings: be fruitful, multiply, cultivate, and express dominion. Here was a complete picture of beauty, life, and delight.
Yet, Adam and Eve disobeyed. Tragically, they consumed the forbidden fruit. They deviated. They succumbed. They indulged in God’s only prohibition. What was this? At the very least, it was a selfish act that was met with devastating consequences: banishment from God’s Garden and, more importantly, severed from God’s presence.
What led to their decision? Why would Adam and Eve, complete in every way, rebel against God, repudiating Him as their Lord and Provider? Why?
We must begin by acknowledging that their action was not an indictment against God’s creation or any sensational, spiritual, or objective limitations. Adam and Eve were complete. Instead, they acted in their own free will (posse non peccare–able not to sin–as Augustine puts it), resulting in the fall of all mankind (Rom. 5:12, 19). So, if their decision was not a real defect, what was it based on then?
To get there, let’s explore two answers and a consequence: (1) Deviant Reframe, (2) Perceived Deficiency, and (3) Situational Catastrophe.
Deviant Reframe
Satan, the crafty serpent, deviantly reframed God’s instructions to Adam and Eve regarding the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. He twisted the Divine warning into a bitter lie: “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
Satan’s ploy provoked their pride, while at the same time, he accused God of withholding His best from Adam and Eve. The attack was sinister and defied God’s benevolent order. Though Adam and Eve walked in all-out satisfaction with God and His creation, it was Satan’s diabolical ambush that subverted their perspective and ultimately led to their demise.
What was his ambush? He lured them with a false narrative, a recalitrant reframe. Yes, he manufactured an illusion of deficiency right in the middle of God’s world of plenty. What was the basis of his reframe?
Perceived Deficiency
The heart of sin is pride. Pride manifests as self-sufficiency, leading to ultimate authority in the individual and granting the power to judge. James’ epistle reveals the heart of this pride, warning Christians against doubting (judging) and instead urging them to seek wisdom from above. He argues that the judging person is a double-minded person, unstable in all their ways. Eve’s downfall was her double-mindedness. It was a prideful glance, judging without God, and staking her future on perceived outcomes.
Satan’s reframe planted a seed of opportunity in Eve’s mind. However, he promised something that neither he nor any created thing could ever deliver. Enter the first “mind game.” The apostle Paul explains, “…I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray…” Notice the line of attack implied in 2 Corinthians 11:3: the mind.
Satan’s narrative was an illusion of the mind that created a perceived (mind) deficiency that led to desire and ultimately action. Look at the progression: (1) Satan: “…has God said…” (2) Satan: “…you won’t die…” (3) Eve: “…good for food…delight to eyes…enough to make wise.”
Indeed, Satan’s ploy engaged not an objective real deficiency, but a perceived one, a mind game that led to double-mindedness, and ultimately caving in. This pattern of sin follows the same sequence every time. It’s the oldest trick in the book: keeping God’s image-bearers more like Gollum than Tom Bombadil (the only one unaffected by Suaron’s ring).
Sin spread through God’s world, infecting it to its core and disfiguring its every part. The situation could not be worse. The need could not be greater.
Situational Catastrophe
Adam and Eve’s decision to eat the forbidden fruit in rebellion created a catastrophic situation. They destroyed their fellowship with God, they removed themselves from God’s delightful garden, and now they were left surviving in a harsh and merciless world.
Murder, displacement, contempt, and more. The garden became a jungle.
The question is no longer why? We know why. The question now is, “How long, O Lord?”
Conclusion
Paul declares in Galatians 4 that in the fullness of time God sent forth His Son. God entered humanity to redeem not only the mind, to think rightly, but the heart to feel rightly, and the will to act rightly.
Christ’s death on the cross, resurrection from the grave, ascension to the Father, sending of the Holy Spirit, and mediating on behalf of Christians open the door to grace through faith. He accepted the penalty of the deviant reframe, so that our minds may perceive clearly. He lifted the fog, dispelled the illusion, and rewrote the story.
Therefore, our only hope against the daily, minute-by-minute blitzkrieg of perceived deficiency lies in our relationship with God. Y’all, if you are in Christ, not only are you a new creation, but you are reconciled to God…the holy Triune God.
Let that sink in.
No more mind games…no more clutching “precious” illusions of individual expressivism. Christ tamed the jungle of slavery to sin and offers restoration to the garden of freedom and blessing.
So, the next time you find yourself about to sin, think about Gollum and Tom Bombadil. Then, think about Satan’s mind game: perceived deficiency, and walk away. Better yet, run. Run to the cross…run to Christ.
God, help us. Amen.
— March 18, 2026