Many people ask, “if a good God made the world, why is it so broken?” Today your family will explore the answer to that question as you learn about sin and its devastating consequences.

 

Yesterday Genesis 2 introduced us to the fact that God makes rules, his first of which was that Adam and Eve were not to eat of one tree. Another word that the Bible uses for God’s rules are his laws, and whenever we break God’s laws the Bible calls that sin. We talked about how God’s rules, or laws, are not meant to unfairly restrict us, but rather to protect us and to show us the boundaries within which we can best flourish. Note from Genesis 2 how much freedom God’s laws provided Adam and Eve. By knowing what tree not to eat from, they had freedom and confidence to eat from every other tree. Yet, with all that freedom, they still were tempted to break God’s one rule.

 

Today Genesis 3 introduces to us a villain in the story in the form of a talking snake. Whether or not God actually created a talking animal, or whether it was simply the devil speaking through the snake, what’s most important is what the snake said to Eve to trick her into disobeying God. It caused her to question what God had said, and whether God could even be trusted. This is very important to talk about together because we are often tempted with the exact same doubts. We are tempted to doubt whether God’s words are all that important, or whether he truly has our best interest in mind. Genesis 3 shows us that God is trustworthy and true. If we obey his laws it will go well with us, but if we break his laws it will end up hurting us in the end.

 

Inheritance

 

When a president makes a bad decision the entire nation suffers. When a boss makes a bad decision his entire company suffers. Similarly when Adam made a bad decision, the entire human race suffered. The theological term for this is Federal Headship; one person being responsible for an entire group of people. Because Adam was given responsibility over all creation, his sin resulted in death to all creation. That is why even little babies who haven’t yet sinned sometimes die, because death now reigns over all humanity because of Adam’s sin (Romans 5:12). In addition to this, through Adam we have all inherited a sinful nature. That means we each have a natural proclivity to break the rules, especially God’s rules. The Bible teaches that we are conceived in sin and brought forth in iniquity (Psalm 51:5), and no one needs to teach us to break the rules. Today your children will learn that just like you, that they have inherited a sinful nature from Adam, and this is the reason they sometimes find themselves wanting to break the rules.

 

Shame and Guilt

 

The last thing you will discuss today is shame and guilt. After Adam and Eve sinned, they felt ashamed for being naked, and they hid. Sin causes us to hide and distrust those closest to us. When God confronted Adam about his sin he blamed his beloved wife. How sad! God brought Eve to Adam as his beloved helper, and here when he is confronted with his guilt he throws her under the bus. Are we not often tempted to do the same when we are confronted with our failings? I encourage you to be quick to own your sin, and be quick to admit when you have been selfish or unkind to others, especially your children. It is good for us to acknowledge to our children that we are not perfect, and when we are open about our sin we empower others to be open in return, and this is healthy. The Bible says confess your sins one to another and pray for one another that you may be healed, and if we confess our sins God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Honest confession is an important and necessary means by which God cleanses our conscience from guilt and shame. I encourage you to demonstrate to your children the practice of confession, that they might do likewise and experience the peace and joy of having their consciences cleansed of guilt and shame.

 

God bless you today.