AdamEve  Adam and Eve ate just ONE piece of fruit that they weren’t supposed eat. Because of that, God unleashed a series of curses. Eve was afflicted with painful child-birth and marriage relationship conflicts (Genesis 3:16). God also told Adam that it would be hard and agonizing to make a living (Genesis 3:17-19).

   Then to top it off, God forced Adam and Eve out of the Garden of Eden and made them break ground for their own garden, never to return to Eden (Genesis 3:23-24). God did all of that for just ONE mistake?

   Before we can decide if God was being unfair to Adam and Eve, we need to look at the complete story. Let’s go back to the beginning.

   When God created the world, it was absolutely perfect. God made Adam and Eve perfect as well and placed them in a perfect environment. He also put them in charge of all the plants and animals. Adam and Eve not only had a perfect relationship with each other, but they also had a personal relationship with the One who made them. God actually came into the Garden of Eden and had loving face-to-face conversations with them every day. Imagine that!

   During one of those conversations, God told Adam about the one tree that they were to avoid. That one restriction gave them the opportunity to show their love and loyalty to the Lord for all the good things He had done for them.

   God also warned them ahead of time what would happen if they disobeyed. The Lord said that disobedience would bring death. Death means separation. When Adam and Eve disobeyed, they died (were separated) spiritually from God because they lost the perfect fellowship they had with the One who made them. Later, they also died physically. “But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear” (Isaiah 59:2).

   When Adam and Eve disobeyed God, they knew that it would ruin the fellowship they had with Him. That isn’t all, though. They also believed the lie that God wasn’t being totally good. Satan convinced them that God was withholding some deep wisdom from them, and that they could only get it by eating from that tree (Genesis 3:6).

   In other words, Adam and Eve believed that God was lying to them, and that they didn’t really need Him. In fact, they believed that their disobedience would make them equal with God Himself (Genesis 3:4-5)!

   When we focus on what Adam and Eve really did when they disobeyed, it becomes clear that they acted in selfish, open rebellion against a loving God who had done nothing but good to them. This helps us to see why sin is so bad.

   Thankfully, that isn’t the end of the story.

   God could have walked away and said, “You disobeyed Me with your eyes wide open, so now you’re on your own.” Instead, God promised that one day He would send a deliverer who would suffer and then defeat Satan (Genesis 3:15), the enemy who had seduced them.

   We see that promise fulfilled in the life of Jesus Christ. Because all of us are “…flesh and blood,

[Jesus] Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives… Therefore, He [Jesus] had to be made like His brethren in all things, so that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation [i.e. satisfy God’s wrath] for the sins of the people” (Hebrews 2:14-15, 17).

   Adam and Eve aren’t the only ones who have sinned. We are all guilty of trying to live our lives independent of the one who made us. When we understand the awfulness of sin, it makes God’s love truly amazing. “In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation [the satisfaction of God’s wrath] for our sins” (1 John 4:10).

   Sin is awful, but God’s grace is marvelous. The Bible promises that “if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. For the Scripture says, ‘Whoever believes in Him will not be disappointed’” (Romans 10:9–11).

   Can you remember a time in your life when you turned from your sin and trusted Jesus to pay your sin debt for you? God has always been fair, and now He is being fair to you. He is giving you a chance to turn from your sin, let His death pay for your sins, and enjoy a relationship with the Creator of the Universe.