The Serpent says to Eve: You Can Become a Better You!

Satan's words to Eve in the Garden began with the promise "YOU" can be better. After asking Eve what God had said, he implies that there is more that God is not telling them. The serpent challenges the veracity of God's word by saying "YOU shall not surely die... For God knows [and did not tell you!] in the day YOU eat from it YOUR eyes will be opened, and YOU will be like God."

As I look at the "YOU's" in Satan's words, I realize that the temptation "to be like god" was accomplished by directing Eve (and then Adam) to look at themselves as independent beings, apart from God. The "what's-in-it-for-you" question separated their identity from God. And once they considered that they might actually exist as creatures apart from the Creator, their failure was sealed.

So it is today with the "YOU" message of Joel Osteen's books "YOUR best life now" and "Become a Better YOU" which can (shall I say inadvertently?) result in the same kind of departure from the Creator/Creature relationship from which we only find fulfillment. For we must not forget that only "in Him, we live and move and exist" (Acts 17:28). The allure of better things and the hope of self-improvement through self-effort is still a viable strategy of Satan to get even believers off-center.