I’m sure you have read or heard the traditional children’s story, “Jack and the Beanstalk.” It is a story about a mother and her son, Jack. They lived in a small cottage and were very poor. Their most valuable possession was their cow, Milky-White. When the old cow stopped giving milk, Jack’s mom told him to take the cow to the market and sell her for a good price.
On his way, Jack sat down by the side of the road to rest. A passerby asked him what he was doing with the cow and he told the man what his mother had instructed him to do. The old man talked Jack into exchanging the cow to him for five beans.
When Jack returned home his mother was furious with him, because of what he had done. She was so enraged that she flung the beans out the open window and sent him to bed without supper.
As the story goes, Jack awoke the next morning and to his amazement a huge beanstalk had shot up overnight that reached beyond his sight into the sky.
Jack climbed out of his window and up the beanstalk he went. It was larger than any tree that he had ever climbed. At the top he saw a huge castle where a giant and his wife lived. The story revolves around two gold coins, a hen that laid golden eggs, and a golden harp that played beautiful music. Reading the story will inform you of the adventures that Jack encountered.
I know the story is just a fairytale, but in this present economy it would be nice if there was a beanstalk outside my bedroom window that I could climb to attain riches that would sustain not only my wife and me, but our children and their families as well—or would it be in my best interest?
“Jack in the Beanstalk” is a cute story, but the true essence of its content is not good. First of all, Jack steals two gold coins from the giant to help with the financial needs at home. When that money ran out he climbed the beanstalk again and steals the giant’s hen that laid golden eggs. Later, he steals the golden harp. Finally, Jack killed the giant by chopping down the beanstalk, while the giant was pursuing him. Greed and doing the wrong things brought forth death in the end.
There is a phrase that most people are acquainted with—money doesn’t grow on trees. If it did, wouldn’t it be great if we could plant a money tree in the back yard for those times when we needed a little extra cash? We could go out and pick a few hundred dollar bills to help us out. I guess this notion is as far fetched as wanting a beanstalk like the one Jack climbed.
I was getting dressed this morning and my mind centered upon two people named Adam and Eve. They had it made in the Garden of Eden if they would have obeyed God. All their needs were met and they didn’t worry about the Dow Jones Industrial Average, Nasdaq Stock Market, or A&P 500 crashing overnight. God supplied all their wants and desires. All that Adam had to do was to tend and keep the garden.
There was just one stipulation that God had. Adam was not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. I wonder if this tree might have been the money tree, because of what the Bible says about loving money.
(1 Timothy 6:10), “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.”
All joking aside, I often see people attempting to get around God’s Commandments and do their own thing, as it were—only to find that when they blindly pursue wrong things, their spirit of rebellion causes them to be in the same state of affairs as Adam and Eve—losing out with God. It pays to obey God if His blessings are desired.
If we are not careful we can justify our actions when wanting something, because of circumstances or the situations we find ourselves in. Like Adam and Eve, we sometimes do the wrong things, which bring hurtful consequences. Flawed choices and immoral actions bring the judgment of God.
Adam and Eve experienced death, because of disobedience. Death is the ultimate sacrifice when self-centeredness is present and sin raises its ugly head. Look at the sin of King David in (2 Samuel 11). He allowed his hormones to rule his better judgment concerning Bathsheba. He conceived a son with her out of wedlock, while she was married to Uriah the Hittite, one of David’s military captains.
David tried to cover up his sin, but in the end he gave orders that Uriah be sent to the front line of battle and then for the men to pull back; leaving him alone—he was killed. David was ultimately responsible for his murder.
The price of David and Bathsheba’s sin was the death of their newborn son. We need to keep our choices in line with God’s choices, or suffer the consequences of our actions.
Breaking the rules reminds me of Sir Isaac Newton’s laws of motion, which are three physical laws that form the basis for classical mechanics—every action has an equal and opposite reaction. Sin has an opposite reaction of spiritual death in the end if something isn’t done to neutralize its curse.
Because of disobedience (sin) in the beginning, the result was the separation between God and man, which brings us to the emphasis of this writing. Adam and Eve listened to the serpent and were deceived. They ate of the tree, thus, sinning against God. Their defiance caused sin to be upon every generation that followed. We are all born with the human tendency to sin. It is called the “Adamic or Adamical Nature.”
(Romans ), “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”
Read (Romans -26).
God desires to reconcile with His creation, but cannot, because of our sin nature. The only way that we can be reunited with God is through Jesus. God gave His Son to die on the tree, which was hewn down and assembled into a cross.
God requires the shedding of blood for the forgiveness of sin; not just anyone’s blood, it took the blood of the Lamb that was without spot or blemish. Jesus is the Lamb of God—free from sin. He died for the redemption of fallen man.
(John 3:16-18), “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” vs.17 “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.” vs.18 “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”
Jesus is the Savior that gave His life willingly on the tree to reunite humanity with the Creator—our Heavenly Father—God.
Written by,
Papa Boyd
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