God created the heavens and the earth. He made Adam from the dust of the ground and Eve from Adam’s rib. Then He put them in the beautiful Garden of Eden. He provided for all their needs and they had a wonderful relationship with each other. God said, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die” (Genesis 2:16).
Satan lied to Eve and said they would not die, but that their eyes would be opened and they would be like God, knowing good and evil (Genesis 3:5). Eve ate and took the delicious fruit to Adam and he ate. They died spiritually, and they were afraid of God. This is known as the fall of man for it is in this event that we inherited our sin nature. We all have a choice to love God with all our hearts, souls, minds and bodies, or to love ourselves–making selfish choices for our own pleasure and profit. God knew we would choose for ourselves, which would separate us from Him. Yet, He chose to love us anyway.
He loved us so much that He gave His only Son to die on a cross for the forgiveness of our sin. The cross was made from a tree. Jesus endured terrible persecution, ridicule and a slow horrible death. The good news of Easter is that Jesus did not stay dead. He rose from the grave to give us eternal life with God. “If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:9).
THINK ABOUT IT
The live tree brought death–spiritual death, but the dead tree brought life. God’s original intent was to be our everything. Because of our selfish pride we choose to be in control. We want to be like God. Although this disappoints God, He loves us and has provided a way to meet our deepest need, the need to know Him. When we accept what Jesus did on the cross in a personal way, we bear fruit–love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self control (Galatians 5:22-23). We experience new mercies and blessings every day from the love of God.
PRAY ABOUT IT
Thank you, Father God, for Jesus. Help us to live according to the plan you have for us. Send your Spirit on us to fulfill our lives and give us hope. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Tell Me the Story 