From Sin to Stepping Stone

by Autumn Dickson

This week we get to read about how Adam and Eve made their way out of the garden and into the world that we know today. There are principles here that can change how you see your own efforts to follow Christ. Some of the principles we read about this week have the power to bring you out of perfectionism and into true salvation because they are not the same thing.

Background on the verse we’re about to read: Moses is learning about Satan because Satan had recently come to him to tempt him. The Lord starts to teach Moses about the man who was trying to get Moses to worship him, specifically about Satan’s role in the beginning of the Plan of Salvation.

Moses 4:6 And Satan put it into the heart of the serpent, (for he had drawn away many after him,) and he sought also to beguile Eve, for he knew not the mind of God, wherefore he sought to destroy the world.

Satan wanted to tempt Eve in order to destroy the world. He wanted to destroy the plan of God because he was mad. Despite his original pleadings to come down and save everyone and bring them all home, now Satan threw away his supposed love for us and merely sought to destroy what God was planning. He was a fraud; he never loved us. He just wanted glory and honor.

There is beautiful irony here. Satan would have destroyed God’s plan if he had left Adam and Eve alone, but he knew not the mind of God. He didn’t know that tempting Eve and convincing her to sin was part of the plan.

One more time. He didn’t know that tempting Eve and convincing her to sin was part of the plan.

I want to switch up the verse just a little bit. I’m going to put in my name. You put in your’s.

Moses 4:6 And Satan put it into the heart of the serpent, (for he had drawn away many after him,) and he sought also to beguile Autumn, for he knew not the mind of God, wherefore he sought to destroy the world.

Satan tempts me because even though he already lost his chance to destroy the plan with Adam and Eve and then again with Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane, he wants to destroy the effects of the plan in my life.

There is beautiful irony here. Sin was part of the plan, and not just as some unfortunate byproduct of a fallen world. It was one of the most powerful tools utilized to save Adam and Eve. Let me explain myself.

Let’s pretend for a moment that Satan predicted the mind of God and left Adam and Eve alone. We would have remained in the exact state where we were. Adam and Eve would have remained innocent in the garden, and we would have stayed in our heavenly home with God. God’s plan would have been thwarted. No sin would have occurred, but no true happiness would have occurred either.

Sin was part of the plan, and not just as some byproduct of a fallen world. Sinning teaches us powerful lessons.

Now we have to be careful with this principle and have the right attitude towards it. I don’t teach this principle so that someone feels like they can go try cocaine in order to learn that it’s bad. That’s ridiculous. I’m not even teaching that it’s okay to lie or cheat so that you can learn your lessons. I’m not teaching that it’s okay to go sin as long as your purpose is an education.

I am trying to break apart the ridiculous arguments of perfectionism.

We came here to grow and become. Our purpose in life should not be to stand frozen and still so that we don’t do anything wrong. Our methods should not include berating ourselves into perfectio