Paradise Lost

Excluded! School pupils are aware of what happens to any pupils who continue to make trouble in school — they are excluded. This exclusion may be for a week or in the worst of cases it may be permanent. Disobedience always carries a penalty and a loss of the friendship and benefits of school.

Adam and Eve had both disobeyed God and they immediately became aware of what they had done and the consequences it would bring. They tried to hide from God but they found they couldn't. God too knew what they had done and in spite of the fact that God loved them, he hated what they had done and he drove them out of the garden — out of Paradise — and guarded against them going back in . Their exclusion was for keeps.

This is the Bible's way of telling us about sin. Sin is disobedience to the commands of God. God hates sin, and while Genesis 3 tells us about the sin of Adam and Eve, the consequences of their sin have affected all of us. "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." (Romans 3:23) We too are excluded from Paradise. But in God's mercy and grace Jesus came to rescue us and bring us back to God, back from our exclusion.

Prayer

Dear Lord, how I thank you for your saving grace to a sinner like me. Amen