Drinking the Kool-Aid VS Eating the Fruit

“Did God really say you can’t eat the fruit in this garden?”

And so, it began.

While Eve told the serpent the truth about what God had said concerning the fruit trees, she also let the serpent so easily convince her that what God had provided wasn’t good enough. She saw something appealing and wanted the benefits it would give her (Genesis 3:1-6).

It took Eve one verse in the bible to lose her footing.

What if she hadn’t been so easily influenced? So distracted by her own motives?

The bible would tell a much different story.

Since Eve was able to experience this life alongside God in a perfect garden, she had no knowledge of sin or its ability to present itself in a happy, hopeful, harmless manner. She needed only to obey God; but, by eating the fruit from the tree in the center of the garden, she ignored God’s promise and sin entered the world.

It’s easy to reflect on her story and shame her for being thoughtless and disobedient, but the poor choices we make in the face of temptation are arguably more harmful to us in our own lives—in our own (less than perfect) gardens.

Our direct access to the Holy Spirit and God’s written word gives us the ability to recognize sin—in all its disguises—and turn away from it with God’s help (Hebrews 4:12), but we don’t.

Instead, we’ve allowed sin to normalize itself around us.

We do not conduct our daily lives in a way that postures us well for His return; we live as though there are more important, urgent things ahead.

Many of us go to church on Sunday but spend the rest of the week unintentionally using our God-given resources to pursue worldly success, worldly pleasure and the worldly version of our ideal selves.

If we’re constantly trying to live our “best life,” then what we’re actually doing is wasting time here by placing a weight on things that aren’t preparing us for eternity.

Whatever it takes to be happy, attractive, successful, financially secure—none of it matters to heaven.

Heaven did not need Eve to be “like” God here on earth.

Yet, that’s what she chose to buy into.

Heaven does not need us to have a perfectly decorated home or manicured lawn. It does not need us to have followers on Instagram or be the CEO of a Fortune 500.

Yet, that’s what we choose to buy into.

And you know what?

God did not choose so lovingly to fearfully and wonderfully knit us in your mothers’ wombs (Psalm 139:13-16) so we could spend our lives in TJ MAXX stressing over which throw pillows are the right shade and shape. Nor did He carefully map out each hour of our lives so we could spend them comparing our blessings to the blessings of others.

There was a season in my life recently when these distractions became all-consuming and subtlety, if not obviously, distracted me from the whole point of my purpose here.

Whenever I was offered a convenient and self-serving opportunity, occasion or object, I would choose to participate in it without any regard to what stood on the other side—just like Eve in the garden.

I guess I just assumed that God didn’t concern himself with trivial things like online shopping or vacation planning.

And don’t you dare ask (!!!) if I bothered to evaluate matters to see how I could glorify Him.

I just had to spend $1k on Botox and a blowout; but I could have spent that money investing in God’s kingdom.

I just had to spend two hours online shopping; but I could have spent that time studying His word.

I just had to worry excessively about all that’s going on at work; but I could have spent that energy encouraging and loving on someone else.

The distractions that I had wound myself around were pulling me in endless directions when I was reminded of Proverbs 27:20— “Just as Death and Destruction are never satisfied, so human desire is never satisfied.” Our hearts work tirelessly in search of something that can satisfy us—relationships, possessions, experiences—and while sometimes these things do bring fulfillment, it’s temporary.

Romans 12:2 plainly tell us “Not to conform to the pattern of the world.” The same verse in the Message Bible says it this way: “Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit right into it without even thinking.”

Well. This is awkward.

To a stranger, my life probably looks like everyone else’s. It may even look that way to some of my closest friends.

I adapted to the world. I became a product of my environment. I drank the Kool-Aid!!!

Wait, you drank what?!

The phrase “Drinking the Kool-Aid” has a negative backstory and is currently being used to describe when an individual hastily tries a new fad without considering its consequences.

Because of social media, peer-pressure, boredom; because they’re searching for something that can’t be found here.

And my Kool-Aid? It’s the American Dream.

The concept has always terrified me because if our only purpose here is to strive for “prosperity, success and upward social mobility,” until we die, then my gosh (!!!), what’s the point?

But regardless of anyone’s opinion on this, the American Dream is engrained in our culture. Society funnels us into the mix at an extremely young age and before we know it, we’ve built exactly what we were afraid of—just because we’re trying to survive.

What’s even more terrifying is that now that I’m an adult and living the “American Dream” for myself, I’ve found that I’m also buying into it.

When my husband and I first bought our house, I wanted it to look chic and well-kept. When my son was born and we couldn’t find daycare, I fought to keep my job because two salaries are more comfortable than one. As a child of God, I may not be “of” this world, but I sure am focused—sometimes solely—on the things that make me feel secure and “happy” here.

So, what did I learn from drinking the Kool-Aid? What was the lesson from allowing myself to drown in the world’s distractions?

I wasn’t drowning at all.

Or at least it didn’t feel that way. I was comfortable and satisfied; arguably for the first time in my life. Ignorance truly can be bliss—but it’s not safe.

You really can “have it all” if you want it all that bad. But, when you stand before God at the end of your life, He won’t be looking at your resume. He won’t care about your net worth, social status or education level.

We may continue to view Eve in a negative light and blame her for everything that’s bad in the world, but “Drinking the Kool-Aid” is just the modern way we’re “Eating the Fruit.”

It is just our cultures way of doubting God and excusing away temptation and sin.

The newest trend might seem innocent and minuscule, but if we aren’t careful, we’ll spend our lives jumping from one “important” thing to the next and will be too distracted to realize that none of it was real or permanent.

We must accept that what distracts us from the Lord really does interfere with our faith and inhibits our ability to be an asset to His kingdom.

And if we aren’t an asset to Him than what are we doing here? What good is salt if its lost its flavor (Matthew 5:13)?

If you can’t figure out exactly what your “Kool-Aid” is, it’s whatever is after your heart and attention this side of eternity that doesn’t have Jesus written all over it.

If you’ve recently found that the world’s got its grip on you (1) let’s be friends (2) know that God has already walked through your untangling process. He knows the extent of the human heart because He himself experienced His own share of worldly distractions and temptations (Hebrews 2:18).

(3) He can keep us from “eating” and “drinking” what we shouldn’t. It’s not fruit or Kool-Aid that will sustain us, it’s living water. And if we drink the water He provides, we will never thirst again (John 4:14), because He not only quenches the shallowest parts of our heart but the deepest pieces of our soul.