“Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” (Matt. 26:41)
The repetition of life for some, perhaps for many, becomes monotonous, and where monotony resides, a callousness can form, so when the temptations arrive, they are more easily fallen into, in fact, for most in that position in this life, they are sought for. Something to break the repetition of sameness, of continuing upon a path that knows little variance.
These pitfalls of the flesh have been set in place by Satan, but the origin of a thing must always be considered before we can come to a right definition of that thing. “But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” (Gen. 2:17) There was absolutely nothing else to tempt Adam and Eve with, it was the only thing that was available to Satan. We do not know how long our first parents were in the garden before he arrived, we do not know if he arrived when they had reached a point to where the repetition of sameness, boredom if you will, had set in, when there was nothing to do but tend the garden, walk around and look at things, and then wait for the sun to go down so they could go to sleep and repeat the same repetition tomorrow.
We know only these things, that the Almighty knew before hand what was going to happen, and that the only thing held back from them was the only item that Satan could possibly use to his advantage.
Eve was tempted and fell, but the keywords are found in Genesis 3:17, “And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;”
It took two to coerce Adam. How many does it take to coerce you?
The blackness of sin, if you will, was contained in a very small area once, now it covers the entire planet, it cannot be escaped from, it surrounds us on a daily basis, and the one who repeats continuously the same routine in its basic form on a day-to-day level is generally the first one to fall prey to that sin.
The unregenerated, the wicked who do not serve Jesus Christ as Lord are not only the first to fall into these traps, but actively seek for them, sin is not sin if one does not apply the word to rebellion against the Most High, at least not in their minds. It is simply a means, a way to beak the monotonous, repetitive daily cycle of life. Drinking, drugs, pornography, the lust of the eyes and flesh, these have always been the mainstay for Satan, and no matter the age mankind has found himself in, they have been sufficient to his cause, to keep the eyes of men off the Lord, to stop the mind from debating within itself the eternal.
Something new, something different, something out of the ordinary to break the repetition.
Few have been blessed to see the truth of Ecclesiastes 1:14 and beg the Lord to withstand these assaults. “I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and, behold, all is vanity and vexation of spirit.” No one, saved or lost, born-again or wicked, is satisfied for very long, something must be infused into our lives to break, even if it is only temporary, the boredom of repetition.
Sameness breeds an intolerance for that sameness, repetition on a continual, ongoing manner will kill a man. Not physically, but he will die inside. Tending the garden for all eternity was not going to be enough for Adam, God knew that, free will must be allowed to express itself. The possibility of a choice had to be offered, and the only option was for man to submit humbly and willingly to the Almighty, or to rebel against Him. That is the decision that you need to make every day in this life. Will you fill those voids with temporary pleasures, or with eternal matters?
