Everybody has their price.

How much would you be willing to pay to go on your dream vacation? How much money would you need to be paid in order to sell your current home? How much time are you willing to spend in order to attain that comfortable or luxurious life you always dreamed of as a child? How many pursuits are you willing to chase after in order to attain that blessed goal called “happiness”? How many friends would you be willing to give up in order to meet the love of your life? How much pain would you be willing to endure in order to make that love last? How many moral convictions are you willing to betray in order to get your hands on that one thing that you have always wanted…that one thing that has always been just slightly out of reach?

Everybody has their price….

And he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none. And he said to the vinedresser, ‘Look, for three years now I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and I find none. Cut it down. Why should it use up the ground?’ And he answered him, ‘Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and put on manure. Then if it should bear fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.’” (Luke 13:6-8)

Anger burned through the Father’s heart as He watched the man and woman exchange words with the serpent. He could hear each word exchanged, could sense their thoughts straying from what was true, could feel their throats growing thirsty for the juice the fruit had to offer. Don’t do it, He thought. Don’t  do it. But even as He watched, He knew the action they would take. He had known from the very beginning. Since before He had given His Son the authority to create them. Since before He had given His son the authority to create anything. Even back then, He had known.