THINK TOGETHER
Have you ever gotten in trouble for being bad? Did you hide?
READ TOGETHER
There was only one thing in the Garden of Eden that Adam and Eve weren’t allowed to do. Do you remember what it was? They were not allowed to eat from the Tree of Knowing Good and Evil. To eat from this one tree would be a sin. Sin is anything we think or do that disobeys God’s rules or rejects his love and grace. And Adam and Eve did both. They disobeyed God’s rule and they rejected God’s love and grace when they chose to reject the Tree of Life – the tree that would give them God’s eternal life. That’s right, they sinned. They chose to try to be like God instead of choosing to simply love and trust God. And as soon as they sinned, Adam and Eve were afraid. Here’s what Adam said when God came to the Garden looking for him:
Genesis 3:10. And [Adam] said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid.”
Sin is a terrible thing. The Bible tells us that sin is not only the bad and selfish things we do, but that it is also a powerful force that tries to keep us away from God and his love for us. It makes us want to hide from God. That’s what Adam and Eve did. But can anyone hide from God?
When sin makes us feel bad inside that’s called guilt. Sometimes feeling guilty makes us do even more bad things. We might blame each other for what WE did wrong (have you ever blamed someone else for your sin?). That’s what Adam did. He blamed Eve for his sin, and he even blamed God. He said that it was all God’s fault, because God made Eve.
Jesus came so that we don’t have to feel guilty or ashamed any more. We don’t have to hide from God and blame others. Because Jesus died on the cross we can always confess our sin to God without ever being afraid of him.
Because of Jesus we don’t have to feel afraid when we sin because we are forgiven.
With Jesus we can admit our sin and make things right.
DO SOMETHING TOGETHER
Play hide and seek together. Talk about how with God we never have to hide.
PRAY TOGETHER
Jesus, thank you for forgiving me and loving me even when I sin. Help me to be able to admit when I do bad things and make it right because I know you love me. Amen.
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