The Meaning Of Life

8 Then the man and his wife heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the breeze of the day, and they hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.

9 But the LORD God called out to the man, “Where are you?”

10 “I heard Your voice in the garden,” he replied, “and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid myself.”

11 “Who told you that you were naked?” asked the LORD God. “Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?”

12 And the man answered, “The woman whom You gave me, she gave me fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”

13 Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?”

“The serpent deceived me,” she replied, “and I ate.”

So Adam and Eve have now sinned. They’ve allowed themselves to be tempted by the serpent, by Satan, and they’ve turned away from God. How many times have we allowed ourselves to be tempted by Satan; we know what God is commanding us, but it is much easier and more convenient to turn the other way and follow the rituals of man. Even though we know the truth, it is very hard to live the truth, so we believe the lies we are told, the majority are doing it so it must be okay. God won’t mind a little compromise, right? After all, we aren’t perfect, the Bible says we were born into sin, and Jesus was the only perfect one who never sinned, so there is no way I will ever be sin-free.

Don’t let that be a cop-out. Yes, we were born into sin. Yes, we will always be sinners, it is our nature. But no, we can try to be sin-free, even though we will fail, that shouldn’t stop us from trying.

And see what sin did? Before the temptation, Adam and Eve walked in this perfect Garden, created by God, created just for them. They walked with God, and they talked with Him. He was their Father truly, they had no earthly father. But now that they’ve sinned, they have separated themselves from God, they have lost that sacred connection, and they are now afraid of God and what He will think of them. So they hide.

When God called out to Adam, “Where are you?”, did God not know? Had they really hidden from God? When God called out, “Where are you?”, he knew exactly where they were and what they did, just like He knows where we are at all times and what we are doing. We can never hide from God.

And like the question, “Who told you that you were naked?”, God knew the answer to that too, it was a rhetorical question. And God wasn’t being judgmental, if He were, he would have immediately became accusatorial. Instead, God was asking those questions with love and compassion.

And how did Adam answer? It wasn’t just one sin he had committed, he was now a sinner, completely detached from God. Adam did not take responsibility for his own actions, but rather he blamed it on Eve. Adam ate freely of the fruit, he could have stopped and told Eve it was forbidden, but he too was tempted. Even if we resist the temptation of Satan, he will use other means to get to us. It may be from a loved one who convinces you to do something you know you shouldn’t, but you do it anyway to avoid conflict. Or perhaps you are trying to please the other person, or maybe it is something as simple as you want to be “cool” or held in esteem for something you did. Regardless of who the tempter is, we have to remain strong and resist.

After Adam threw Eve under the bus, what did Eve do? Did she ask for forgiveness? Did she say, “Father I am so sorry, I have sinned.” No, she didn’t confess her sins, she tried to deflect responsibility off of her; “The serpent deceived me”

Yes, we were born into sin. It is human nature to sin. We are far from perfect, we “fall short of the Glory of God”. But that doesn’t have to mean we are destined to become total failures.

When you sin, take responsibility for your actions. God already knows, He just wants you to acknowledge what you did and that you are sorrowful for it. And you need to be specific, not “Forgive me for my sins”, that is a blanket coverage. If you don’t acknowledge each act, you will not reflect on it and focus on changing your habit. I used to be a foul-mouthed profane fireman. But once I turned back to God and made an attempt to clean up my mouth, it reached the point where when I did slip up and curse, I automatically was convicted of it, I was immediately remorseful. I was disappointed in myself because I had broken a personal record. And I freely admit, I have fallen off that wagon and there are times when, in frustration, I let out a curse. And it is something that I need to start working on once again

My earthly father was truly a good man. He was God-fearing, and by the way I hate that term, we should never be afraid of God, but it had become a phrase to describe how much you love your God and how much you try to live a good life; my father was a good man, very kind, very gentle, very compassionate. I remember when I was a child, he and I were outside working on something and he became frustrated, something very rare for him, and he let out an “Oh hell!” By todays standards, that is extremely mild compared to the number of F-Bombs people let out. But when my father said that, he immediately became red-faced, I could tell he was ashamed of himself for letting himself get to that point, and he was truly remorseful. For my dad to say the word “hell” in anger, was a great sin to him.

Let us not be afraid of our Heavenly Father. He loves us deeply. His is all-knowing, he knows we’re sinful, he knows were are going to sin. But let’s be open and honest with Him. Let’s have a good and personal relationship with Him. If we are open and honest and confess that we have failed, and not try to blame it on someone else, God will forgive you every, single, time.

And that is mainly what the Bible is. It is a guide to how we should live our lives in harmony with God. It is a book that shows just how much He loves us. In my life, I’ve tried to look upon my relationship with God just as my relationship with my Earthly father was. My father loved me, wanted what was best for me, wanted to protect me from evil, while at the same time giving me free-will to make my own decisions. Yes, there were times he had to correct me. There were times he had to discipline me. But it was all out of love; I was stupid and he knew it, he knew I needed coaching to make it through life.

And that is the way God is. We are His children. He loves us and wants what is best for us to have long, healthy, and joyful lives. And sometimes it takes correction, or discipline to keep us on track. Open your heart to God. Do not fear Him, do not hide from Him. He loves us more than I can describe, more than we can comprehend.

My God Bless you all.