Me:  What a beautiful river!

 

Prodigal:  Yes, it is so peaceful here, almost like a Garden of Eden.

 

Me:  The story of Adam and Eve and the first sin.

 

Prodigal:  What do you mean the first sin?

 

Me:  Well let be share something from my reading that will help explain the sin of Adam and Eve.

 

Gary Heim and Lisa Heim talk about sin nature in their book True North:  Choosing God In The Frustrations of Life.

 

Because of our sin nature, passed on to us by Adam and Eve, we don’t naturally delight in loving, serving, and celebrating God and one another.  Instead, we forsake God and manipulate others for our own advantage.  When we live self-centered instead of God-centered lives, our lives become chaotic and never make sense. 

The search for the purpose of life has puzzled people for thousands of years.   That’s because we typically began at the wrong starting point-ourselves.  We ask self-centered questions like What do I want to be?  What should I do with my life?  What are my goals, my ambitions, my dreams for my future?  But focusing on ourselves will never reveal our life’s purpose. 

You were made by God and for God- and until you understand that , life will never make sense.  It is only God that we discover our origin, our identity, our meaning, our purpose, our significance, and our destiny.  Every other path leads to a dead end.

The greatest lie Satan wants us to believe is that life is a story about us, about me, and that I play the leading role.  The greatest truth God wants us to believe is that life is a story about Jesus Christ and that we play an important supportive role.  Fully embracing this truth sets us free to live for God and the good of others.  To embrace the lie brings us into the worst and darkest bondage possible.

 

I am happy and I have peace when I embrace the supportive role to Jesus Christ.  It takes pressure off of me.  I don’t have to have all the answers.  I don’t have to figure everything out.  I don’t have to be perfect.  I just let Jesus take the lead and I follow.

That goal of yours is it supportive of Jesus?  Look at it again.  Maybe that is the struggle.  The goal is  not supportive to Jesus.  That goal is self serving.

 

1 John 3:1

See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are.  The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.

 

Jennifer Van Allen,

www.theprodigalpig.com

www.faithincounseling.org