1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, “Indeed, has God said, `You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?” 2 The woman said to the serpent, “From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; 3 but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, `You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.'” 4 The serpent said to the woman, “You surely will not die! 5 “For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6 When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings.
One of the biggest temptations of man has always been power. Many men and women have started out in ministries with honorable intentions, but the allure of power goes to their head, and they lose focus on what they are supposed to be doing. The lust for power pushes them further and further from where they should be, and before they know it, their ‘ministry’ looks more like a conquest. It isn’t just those in ministry that have to worry about this though. All of us, in our every day jobs encounter power struggles, and we need to examine our motives constantly. Are we living to glorify God, or are we just trying to climb the ladder of success to be the one at the top? Let Adam and Eve be a warning to those with lofty ambitions. Live every moment to please God, and you won’t have to worry about doing the climbing.