“Relationships”

“Relationships”

 

DISCUSSION                                                          

                Could you imagine what it was like to be Adam and Eve?  You are living in paradise and you have God meeting with you and talking with you on a minute by minute basis.  It is the closest thing to heaven that this world has ever and will ever be.  Yet in Genesis 3, all that changed.  The world that Adam and Eve were living in would forever be altered.  The sins that they committed got them kicked out of paradise. They now had to work for their food with hard labor.  Eve would now have to suffer greatly with the pain of childbirth.  However, none of these consequences of their sins were as painful as the wedge that had been placed between God and man.  It is only thousands of years later as Isaiah describes how the sins of the nations of Israel and Judah have affected their relationship with God; do we get a clear picture of that wedge.  “…Your iniquities has made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you…” (Isaiah 59.2).  As we continue to read though out the Old Testament, we begin to see just how much of a fall, “The Fall of Man” was.  However, it isn’t just because of the sins of Adam and Eve; my sins have caused a separation in my relationship with God.  Although, as we learned from the devotional yesterday, we know that God will never leave us; yet we can leave Him.  The most wonderful news that Isaiah brings is the promise of the Messiah who will provide for us a way to bridge that gap that our sins have caused.  That bridge is clearly revealed to us in the Gospels in the form of God coming to us in Jesus Christ.  His sacrifice, His Love, His Grace and His Mercy are what enables us to not only restore that relationship that Adam and Eve once had, but make it even better! 

Prayer Requests:______________________________________________________________________