Click this link to hear an audio version of the below text narrated by SOTH member Jerry Rhinehart:
Genesis 3:1-5 (NIV)
3 Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” 2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’” 4 “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. 5 “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
In Galatians 5:4-6 the Apostle Paul writes: “I suspect you would never intend this, but this is what happens. When you attempt to live by your own religious plans and projects, you are cut off from Christ, you fall out of grace” (The Message). This “fall” out of grace has been our problem since Adam and Eve and it goes deeper than being good or bad. The issue is our trust in what God says and does. Is life something you seek to master? To control? Maybe you are looking for one more piece of advice, a trick, a piece of technology or a life “hack” that will help you get a handle on the daily stresses of life. Grace is a step into the freedom of wonder. What will today bring? Who is God bringing you into contact with today to love? What has God blessed you with? The grace of the cross of Christ sets us free to love God, love others, and love life.