The Hope Collective Advent Guide
Love | Week 3 | Day 17
Then the Lord God said, “Look, the human beings have become like us, knowing both good and evil. What if they reach out, take fruit from the tree of life, and eat it? Then they will live forever!” So the Lord God banished them from the Garden of Eden, and he sent Adam out to cultivate the ground from which he had been made.
Genesis 3:22-23
Love
Do you remember that perfect moment of hope when mankind existed alongside Yahweh? We were working and cultivating the earth in obedience to our creator when a split-second decision broke our relationship with God and became the first act of disobedience in history. God’s gift of life was eternal; Adam’s and Eve’s act of disobedience disrupted the perfect balance of relationship in His garden. Our loving Yahweh knew that eating from the tree of life would keep us in that broken system of evil with no hope for redemption forever.
So what did he do? The Lord made them clothing from the skin of an animal and He sent them out, removing them from the garden. God’s judgement would be upon them, and life outside the garden would be hard. Imperfect. Broken. However, mankind also experienced God’s love. With sin now in the mix, the greatest act of love God could offer in this moment was to keep mankind out of the garden (away from the tree of life!) so that He could redeem and restore us through what was to come: a solution for all mankind for eternity, through His Son, Jesus.
Pray
Lord, we come to this Advent season with hearts full of love as we look to Jesus coming to earth as your Son. May we see you in this season, and may we show your goodness in everything we say and do. Bring to us opportunities to serve those who are suffering; open our eyes to the needs around us that we may bless others through your Name. Amen.
– Content written by Awana®. Used with permission.
Act
Send a card to a hospitalized kid through a site like cardsforhospitalizedkids.com or to someone in the military through a site like www.amillionthanks.org.
Do you know someone who is ill? Pray for them right now, and then reach out with an encouraging text.
Buy a cup of coffee for someone.
Family Application
Find something small and easy to catch (e.g. plastic Christmas ornament, a ball pine cone or stuffed animal). Gather your family in a circle. Each person should take a turn tossing the object to someone and share what they love best about that person. Be sure each person gets a turn to toss and share and be given the gift of words of love.