WHAT'S YOUR APPLE?

As cunning as the devil is, it is obvious what he desires.  He desires our destruction.  Jesus told us this by exposing the enemy’s plan in John 10:10.  “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy…”  Yet while the end result is known, the way in which he carries out his mission is different for each person.  Whereas for me the apple used was an addiction, for another person it may be money, pride, or idleness.

Look at some of the apples he managed to use throughout the Bible.  In Genesis 3:4-5, we find the enemy in his serpent form tickling the ear of Eve.  “’You will not surely die,’ the serpent said to the woman, ‘For God knows that when you eat of [the fruit] your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.’”  In this case he used the apple of vanity, and with it came the entrance of sin and physical death.  It is in Judges 16:4, we find the enemy using lust as an apple.  Here, as ever so constantly, Delilah was used to obtain from Samson the secret of his strength.  In the end, Samson would break and be taken as a slave of the Philistines.  And in Acts 5:1-11, the enemy uses greed as the apple.  In this account we find the full promised amount not given, and both Ananias and Sapphira finding physical death as a result.

On and on, example after example, the Bible is full of accounts where the apple caused the doom.  I wonder if that is where the Brothers Grimm took the idea of the apple in their classic tale of Snow White.  All it took was one bite from the poisoned apple and the princess would be done for.  How fitting then, that the devil works to do the same with us.  He presents the apple to us, dangling before us in all its hidden yet wicked glory, and encourages us to take just one bite.

So what is your apple?  What is it that the enemy has as his go to in order to bring your destruction?  I have learned, albeit the hard way, what my apple is.  I have come to realize that as long as I live for Christ the enemy will continue to come after me with his apples in hopes that I will take a bite.  His apple may promise to be fun, to meet our needs, and to satisfy our souls, but in the end it will only lead to a spiritual and perhaps physical death.  So then, it is imperative that we deny his apple and instead eat of the Word of God.