In the beginning, God created us. He created us to have a relationship with Him. He provided everything we needed. He was our Power Source. Before the temptation came in the Garden, we had the ability to enjoy a personal relationship with God… one on one. We had need of nothing… all was provided by God. Then, sin entered the picture. Man was tempted to look elsewhere . Man was tempted to find out how to do things on their own… apart from fully trusting in God… their Creator; their Power Source. Man, unfortunately, gave in to that temptation. When Adam and Eve disobeyed God’s instructions not to eat from the tree of knowledge, and, instead, thought they knew better than God, their Creator, their Power Source, sin entered the world, and, with it, death. Once their eyes had been opened to this knowledge, they then thought they “knew it all” so to speak. Fortunately, God, as Creator, knew better. After all, He was the Source not only of power, but also the Source of all knowledge. In His knowledge, God then chose to banish Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden lest they should also partake of the tree of life and live forever… in their sin. God knew that if Adam and Eve lived forever, in their flesh, that would be like a slow torture… since they would be, in effect, harming themselves every day as they used their newfound “knowledge” to live and to do what they, in their own minds, thought was best… apart from the way God originally intended … the way that was truly best… the way He originally designed them. But, the story doesn’t stop there. God didn’t just banish Adam and Eve from the Garden to leave them on their own to fend for themselves, no, He began right then providing a way for them to be reconciled back to Himself. He began providing a way for them to have that close personal relationship with Him once again. And, since they now had knowledge, they also would be given a choice… a choice of whether to accept His way or to reject it. God loved His creation so much He wanted to restore His original relationship with them. But God was also a just God. He knew the sin that had been committed needed to be paid for. He knew He couldn’t just say, “oh, well, you did something wrong, no big deal, just don’t do it again.” If He had done that, He would have implied that sin wasn’t as serious as it really was. So, in God’s goodness He provided a way for all of His Creation to come back to Him and be in a right relationship with Him. God provided Jesus… the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Jesus came to earth and lived a sinless life on our behalf… to make us righteous once again (in right standing with God as if we had never sinned). Then, through the death of Jesus when He was crucified on the cross our sinfulness was paid for … in full… there is nothing we could ever do past, present or future to “earn” favor with God… we can never do anything other than trust in what Jesus did on the cross by His grace and His love to redeem us and save us from the penalty of sin, which is death… Jesus took our place! Finally, when Jesus rose from the grave… when He was resurrected from the dead… when He came back to life on the third day (as had been foretold in Scripture, in the Bible, in God’s Holy Word), Jesus completed the final element that had been needed to rebuild the bridge back to God… back to God’s original intention of enjoying a close personal relationship with His Creation.. a relationship that can now last forever. Ultimately, our true purpose in life could now be reinstated: to know and enjoy our Creator! Then, out of gratitude and love and thanksgiving for what God has done to make the way for us to have that original relationship back, we, as God’s children have the privilege and honor to tell others the good news: they can have this awesome personal relationship with God as well… and all they have to do is Accept it, Believe it, and Confess it! All it takes is a simple prayer like this: God, I accept that I was born a sinner. I believe there is nothing I could ever do on my own to earn my way into a right relationship with you. I confess that I need Jesus alone since only through His life, death, and resurrection could my personal relationship with You be made possible once again. I choose Your way above my own way. Please come into my heart to be my Lord and Savior forever. Thank you that I am now saved and on my way to heaven. Help me to tell others the good news and to live in a way that honors you and the new relationship I now have with you. In Jesus name, Amen.
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