Why We Need to Know Our First Parents

Why do we need to get to know our first parents? Some might say, "I'm not going to make the same mistakes my parents did." I'm afraid you will if you don't learn from their mistakes. You will do even worse if you don't learn how to turn from their and your own mistakes.

So, that's why we need to know our first parents. The way sin worked in them is still the way sin works in us. The good news that you will see over and over again in this book is that God has provided us a way out of sin, a pathway of grace.
Put yourself in Adam and Eve’s shoes for a minute. Go back and read Genesis, chapters 3 & 4. Sin begins in betrayal. Sin is a breach in trust. That locks us into a self-serving bias.

Proverbs 3: 5-7 offers us a clear path for reconciling ourselves to God and the pathway of grace. “Trust in the Lord with all your heart; lean not unto your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him and he will direct your paths. Be not wise in your own eyes. Fear the Lord and depart from evil.”
Repair the breach. Acknowledge the betrayal by hightailing it to God. Don’t lean to your own understanding. Don’t substantiate the temptation. “The woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom.”

Of course, this was true. The tree was good because God is good. That doesn’t make it your tree. I have peach trees and apple trees in my orchard at home. The fruit is good and tastes great. I live an hour away. Do I want everyone who admires the fruitfulness of my trees to have some? No, I’d prefer to eat it myself or, at the very least, be asked for permission.

Adam and Eve did none of this. They could have exerted a little faith in God during this temptation. “Serpent, what you say sounds pretty good. We’ll check it with God when we walk him this evening. Come back tomorrow or better yet, hang around until God gets here. We’ll give you a tour of the rest of the garden while we wait.”
Even after the sin occurred Adam and Eve could have moved in grace to begin in repentance with God. Instead, they hid themselves.

Don't you hide from the mistakes of the past or present. Turn from them. Learn how to go to God with them. Otherwise, we'll see in the next yourdailygrace you can either be making godspeed towards repentance or good speed downhill. The choice is yours.