What Satan put into the heads of our remote ancestors was the idea that they could “be like gods”—could set up on their own as if they had created themselves—be their own masters—invent some sort of happiness for themselves outside God, apart from God. And out of that hopeless attempt has come nearly all that we call human history—money, poverty, ambition, war, prostitution, classes, empires, slavery—the long terrible story of man trying to find something other than God which will make him happy.
— C. S. Lewis
God created us to be happy and free. He wanted us to enjoy the fruits of creation and live in harmony with Him in the garden He had prepared for us. Because we were created with a free will we chose to reject His will for us and launch off in an entirely different direction. In our ideal state we were exposed to evil, and evil won. Man fell and we still suffer the consequences of that fall.
What was the fall anyway? Simply put, we wanted to be God. The evil, Satan, told us that we could be gods and it was foolish for us to only obey God. Our egos told us that we could do anything. In fact, if we had the knowledge of good and evil we could rule the world. As a matter of fact, we would then be our own god. That was the promise of the devil then and it still is his promise today. What are some results of that promise?
- We miss the very best that God want to give us.
- We spend our lives try to be what we can’t be.
- We suffer untold heartaches trying to “do it ourselves.”
- We live in a world of wars and rumors of war.
- We fail to truly do what we want to do.
- We labor for all that we attain.
- We are not satisfied with what we attain.
- We live shorter and more difficult lives.
Is there some relief from this? Yes! The relief is not complete but it offers promise. God saw our struggle and came to help us in spite of our sin. He came 
in the form of the man Jesus and offered to be our savior. Jesus gave us the great hope when he taught us to pray,”Thy kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven.” That simple statement is our hope. We live this present day in His grace and know that He will one day restore His creation.
We miss a lot but Jesus gives us a lot. Let us take advantage of the great gift of God.
Prayer
Lord, I want to trust you. I want to take Jesus as my Savior and Lord. Let Him dwell in me so I might dwell in Him. Teach me to value myself as a sacred creation of yours. Let me see ways of service to you and my community,
Amen
A Pastor's Thoughts 