The Gospel Story #3: BLACK
This episode is called Black, and I think you will know what I am talking about with this one. SIN.
Sin is the thoughts and actions and not doing things too, that goes against what God wants us to do. It is kind of like being naughty, but when you are at home and you’re naughty and get into trouble that is because you are doing thinks your parents don’t want you to do. Sin is doing things God doesn’t want you to do, whether it is on purpose or even if it is an accident.
Adam and Eve did this in the Garden of Eden and we do it all the time. We all sin, every single person in the world, I know because it says so in the bible, in Romans 3:23 it says, “ALL HAVE SINNED.”
The sin is a bit like drawing on paper. Think about a fresh, clean sheet of white paper, without any smudges or wrinkles or drawing on it. It is perfect, a bit like people when God first created them. Now imagine a big black marker drawing all over it, creasing it and putting holes in it. That marker is the sin. The paper is no longer perfect, just like when people sin, we are no longer perfect and holy either. Even if the marker only did one small dot, it still wouldn’t be perfect. Some people do heaps of sinning and other people do only a bit, but just one tiny sin is enough to stop us from being perfect and holy for God. Sin is not just like a little hiccup - it is a MASSIVE problem.
It is ABSOLUTELY IMPORTANT that God does not have any sin in Heaven or in Him.
In the Bible Isaiah the prophet says in Isaiah 59:2, “Your sins are the roadblock between you and your God.”
Adam and Eve just did one small thing and no longer could they hang out with God in the Garden of Eden. They actually had to leave the garden and go and find their own food and water and shelter. God made them clothes from animal fur and was really sad to have to punish them.
When God hears that his people have disobeyed him, he does the same as what any parent does when their kids do the wrong thing - he gives them a punishment. For example, the snake gets his legs taken off him, Adam and all men will have to work hard to get food and women will have to go through pain in childbirth.
What happens when you do the wrong thing?
What happens when we sin against God? We can't spend eternal life with God in Heaven when we die! We will have to go to a place without God, a place we often call Hell.
After sin came into the world it meant that life can never go back to how it was in the Garden of Eden, into that perfect, holy life with God. Sin is a BIG DEAL. It is a huge problem for God and for all of us, his creation, his creatures. It is such a massive problem that it is needed to be talked about.
I can't just leave it there on such a negative note, so I will let you know that there is good news - God has already worked out a way to get rid of this sin that separates us from him!
Discussion Questions:
How do you think Adam and Eve felt when God turned up after they had sinned and eaten the fruit?
Do you think you would have eaten the fruit if you were there?
Is there something you do that makes God sad that you find really hard not to do? If you want to you can pray about that now and ask him to help you!
