Day 1 - Advent Devotional

Read: Genesis 2:4-9,15-17, 21-25, 3:1-7
These are the records of the heavens and the earth, concerning their creation. At the time that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens, no shrub of the field had yet grown on the land, and no plant of the field had yet sprouted, for the Lord God had not made it rain on the land, and there was no man to work the ground. But mist would come up from the earth and water all the ground. Then the Lord God formed the man out of the dust from the ground and breathed the breath of life into his nostrils, and the man became a living being. The Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he placed the man he had formed. The Lord God caused to grow out of the ground every tree pleasing in appearance and good for food, including the tree of life in the middle of the garden, as well as the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. 

The Lord God took the man and placed him in the garden of Eden to work it and watch over it. And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree of the garden, but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for on the day you eat from it, you will certainly die.” 

So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to come over the man, and he slept. God took one of his ribs and closed the flesh at that place. Then the Lord God made the rib he had taken from the man into a woman and brought her to the man. And the man said: This one, at last, is bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh; this one will be called “woman,” for she was taken from man. This is why a man leaves his father and mother and bonds with his wife, and they become one flesh. Both the man and his wife were naked, yet felt no shame.

Now the serpent was the most cunning of all the wild animals that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You can’t eat from any tree in the garden’?” The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit from the trees in the garden. But about the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden, God said, ‘You must not eat it or touch it, or you will die.’” “No! You will not die,” the serpent said to the woman. “In fact, God knows that when you eat it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” The woman saw that the tree was good for food and delightful to look at, and that it was desirable for obtaining wisdom. So she took some of its fruit and ate it; she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.

Think: What would it be like if you had never felt sad or lonely or sick or afraid? What lies do you believe about God when you sin? How has temporary pleasure left you disappointed in the end? 

Hope: God created Adam and Eve and loved them too much to let their sins be the end of the story. God had a plan that one day He would make the world perfect again and rescue His children from the pain they had caused themselves. Many years later, although it would cause Him much suffering, God sent Jesus to rescue you from your sin to bring you back into His family. If you accept His forever love, He promises to one day wipe away every tear from your eyes and you will no longer have to wonder what it would be like to live in paradise with Him.

Pray: God, thank you for sending Jesus to rescue me so that my mistakes are no longer counted against me. Thank you that the lie that Adam and Eve believed is not the end for me or for this world. Help me to believe that you aren’t withholding good from me when you ask me to obey. Amen!

Apply: Start a thankfulness list. Keep adding to it each day until you reach 100 things you are thankful for. Thankful people are happy people.