God Created Us, so Why Isn't life Perfect
Day 10
by Gini Crawford, MSW
God created us and our world perfectly
The world was a perfect place. Adam and Eve were created perfectly. They would never grow old, be sick or die. They would live forever. Nothing bad would exist for them. They and their descendants would possess only life, good, pleasure, abundance, peace, and harmony. They would never deal with death, pain, scarcity, toil, conflict, hunger, or any bad or evil thing. (Genesis 2:7-10, 15-25).
Adam and Eve got along with each other perfectly and with God perfectly. God literally walked in the garden with them, where He enjoyed companionship with them. (Genesis 3:8-9). I do not think we can begin to imagine the world in its perfect state since the effects of sin have changed it so greatly. So, what exactly happened?
Adam and Eve chose sin
And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, "You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die." Genesis 2:16-17 ESV®
In Genesis 2:16-17, God gave Adam and Eve just one loving command that they needed to obey, but they chose to disobey God by doing exactly the opposite of what He told them to do. They ate from the tree that gives the knowledge of good and evil. This wasn't an oops but a choice they both decided to make. Immediately they knew their choice was wrong and had changed everything. (Genesis 3:7; Psalm 51:4).
So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths. And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, "Where are you?" And he said, "I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself." Genesis 3:6-10 ESV®
When Adam and Eve disobeyed God, their sin threw their existence into chaos. Their relationship with God was clearly broken since they started hiding from Him instead of wanting to walk with Him. They had become rebellious against God (Ephesians 2:1-3). The world started to become a hostile place to live in. Sad but true, sin brought evil and death. They went from knowing-experiencing only good, to knowing-experiencing evil too. I don't have to explain evil to you because you experience it, see it and read about it. (Genesis 3:1-13).
Sin explained
You might be wondering what exactly sin is. To put it simply, sin is disobeying God. Sin is everything we do that God's Word tells us not to do, or everything we don't do that God’s Word tells us to do. Sin also includes our thoughts. If we think thoughts that are against what God desires, it is sin. You might be thinking, "Where did she get that one?" Jesus stated this in Mark 7:20-23,
And he (Jesus) said, "What comes out of a person is what defiles him. For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person." Mark 7:20-23 ESV®
An important principle to remember is, if you don't deal with your sinful thoughts, they do become sinful actions. Here is an example from my past: My neighbor had a dog that regularly pooped right by my mailbox, even though I had asked her nicely to stop the dog. Every time I saw the neighbor or her dog, I would think some pretty negative thoughts about them. I realized if I didn't ask God to help me forgive her and the dog, I would angrily scream something at her sooner or later. (James 1:13-15).
Did you know sin starts in your mind?
Sin brings punishment
Sin in a general sense is like disobeying any human law - there is a consequence. You steal something, your punishment will probably be some jail time. Sin brings punishment too because you are disobeying God's laws.
The punishment for sin is death and eternal punishment. Romans 6:23a says, "For the wages of sin is death..." The meaning of death in this verse is both physical death and spiritual death. We all know what physical death is, but the idea of spiritual death is confusing. This is because it is something we can't see in a concrete sense, but God surely can. After death we will face eternal punishment in hell. Do you know that God did not create hell for us? In Matthew 25:41 Jesus states that hell was prepared for the Devil and his angels. God never wanted us to die (Ezekiel 18:32) and go to hell but to be with Him. Paul (who wrote many of the books in the New Testament) explains eternal punishment in 2 Thessalonians 1:8-9,
...inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might. 2 Thessalonians 1:8-9 ESV®
What are your thoughts on sin bringing punishment?
Life Application
Sin changed everything
Why did sin change everything? One of God's characteristics is holiness. Since God is holy, He is completely set apart from sin and evil; He is absolutely pure. God's holiness can't tolerate sin, so He can do no less than punish it. Read Leviticus 10:1-3; 1 Samuel 2:2; Psalm 5:4. Holiness and sin are exact opposites. So, it makes sad sense that our sin separates us from God which is spiritual death. Read Isaiah 59:1–2; Ephesians 2:1. God's holiness and our sin present an awful problem because God loves us and wants to be with us. He does not want you to be separated from Him and punished. How did God solve the problem of His holiness that seems to conflict with His love? He sent Jesus Christ!
Any thoughts on God's holiness and our sin?
Considering Genesis chapters one and two, what type of world did God want us to live in? If you have the time read Genesis 1 and 2 again.
Genesis chapter three describes when Adam and Eve first sinned. Genesis chapter four paints a sad picture of how sin changed everything. Read Genesis 3 and 4. What was Adam's and Eve's relationship with God before and after sin came into the world? What type of world did we end up with because of sin? How did sin change their descendants' lives? Did you notice God was with Adam's and Eve's decendants' too?
Reflect on Genesis 3:8.