STORY TIME
with Aunt Jo!

He created the sun, and the moon, and the stars -- not for Himself, but for you and me.

He created the oceans, the rivers, the lakes--and every form of water--not for Himself, but for you and me.

He created the grasses, the trees and bushes--yes, all of the flowers, fruit trees, and vegetables--not for Himself, but for you and me.

Then He created all of the animals--cats and dogs--yes, even those funny monkeys--not for Himself, but for you and me.

Finally, God created something for Himself. Do you know what it was? It was you and me. When He created us, He created us very much like Himself. We need people to love us, or we feel lonely. God created Adam and Eve to have fellowship with Himself--to love and serve Him.

God showed His love for Adam and Eve by putting them into the most beautiful garden you could ever imagine. Not even the beautiful gardens that we pay money to see can be compared with the Garden of Eden.

God would come walking through the garden, having a time of fellowship with Adam and Eve. He put two special trees in the middle of the garden--the tree of knowledge of good and evil, and the tree of life. He commanded Adam and Eve not to eat of the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil. Finally, God allowed satan to enter the garden in the form of a snake.

Why would God put a beautiful tree in the garden, and then forbid Adam and Eve to eat of the fruit? Why did He allow satan entrance into the beautiful garden, knowing that satan would try to deceive Adan and Eve?

God wanted to test the love and obedience of Adam and Eve, so He gave them the power to choose between good and evil.

Satan lied and told Adam and Eve that they would be like God if they would eat the forbidden fruit. Eve ate first, and then gave some to her husband. Right after they had finished eating the fruit, the heard the voice of God, and they were araid, and hid themselves!

They had never felt fear nor guilt before. God had told them if they ate the forbidden fruit, they would die. Perhaps they did not understand what it meant to die, but they knew it was something not good.

Because of their sins, God could have killed Adam and Eve--but He chose this as an opportunity to show His love towards those whom He had created. He killed two animals instead of them, and from the skins of the animals made coats for them to replace the fig leaf aprons they had been wearing.

Nevertheless, they were forced to leave their very beautiful garden. From that time, man has to work hard to make his own living, and every women experiences pain when she gives bith--all because of the disobedience of Adam and Eve.

Most probably, Adam and Eve loved God much more when they really understood His mercy. They had sinned, and they were supposed to die because of it. But God killed two animals as a substitute for them.

From then on, it was God's plan for people who had sinned to bring an animal sacrifice and offer it unto the Lord as a sin offering. There was no power in the animal's blood to take away their sins, but they had faith that some day the true Lamb of God (Jesus Christ) would come and give His life as a sacrifice for the sins of the whole human race!

We, too, have been given the power of choice. We are in a world where there are many beautiful things--but often these are things that will take our hearts away from God. We must choose the things that are right and good. When we do wrong, we should be quick to pray to Jesus, asking His forgiveness, and then His blood will cover our sins.