In the beginning God created man (Adam and Eve) in His own image, to tend and keep His garden. Everything was perfect. They lived in a beautiful, innocent, peaceful, loving, and disease-free world. The Bible says that they would spend time with God and walk with Him in the cool of each day. He had only one rule for the man and his wife; they were not to eat of the fruit of one of the trees, everything else was fine. However, the first man and woman were unable to keep that one rule. By disobeying God, they introduced sin into the world and were forced to leave the garden. The beauty was lost, innocence gone, and the peaceful, loving, and disease-free world, was now - corrupted. 

The Bible says in Romans that the effect of sin is separation from God, and that since Adam, everyone who has ever lived has committed sin, and therefore, all are separated from Him. But, before Adam and Eve were forced to leave the garden, God promised a Savior who would fix what man ruined and return man to a place of relationship with Him.

Time went by on earth, and more promises came concerning the One who would break the curse started by Adam and Eve. Jesus, the Son of God was miraculously born. He fulfilled more than 300 prophecies ranging from the time and place of His birth to the time and place of His death. He spent His life teaching on the kingdom of heaven, healing the sick, and declaring Himself to be the only way to God. Being fully God, He lived as a man, for 33 years without sinning once. Having never sinned, He did not earn the penalty of death. Motivated by love, He chose to die anyway, a brutal death on a cross, to pay a debt that was not His. Rising from the dead three days later He was witnessed by more than 500 people as being alive, showing His power even over death.

The Bible tells us that all have sinned. The idea of sin is the same as that of an archer who missed his target. No matter how close the arrow comes, he still missed the bull’s-eye. What is the bull’s-eye? Well, a certain lawyer from the religious community approached Jesus one day and asked Him; “Rabbi” (Teacher) what is the greatest commandment in the law?” Jesus responded, saying to him: “You shall love the Lord your God with your entire being (heart, soul, mind, and strength). This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” The bull’s-eye is the keeping of the first two commandments: loving God, living to please Him by obeying all that He commands and loving people, putting the interests of others before your own. We’re all guilty! We’ve all been selfish at some point in our lives. We’ve disobeyed God.

The Bible also tells us that “the wages of sin is death.” At the end of the week your employer gives you a paycheck not because you are a good person, but because you earned it. In the same way, by sinning (disobeying God) you have earned death, eternal separation from Him. The Bible goes on to say that “the gift of God is eternal life.” A gift is not earned, but rather given out of love. We cannot earn forgiveness from sin, or eternal life with God. We must accept it as a gift. Imagine you were put on trial and found guilty of a crime that you committed. The fine is more than you can afford, and the result of not paying the fine is prison. Before the judge hands you over to the officers to be sent away, someone steps in and offers to pay your fine which will allow you to go free. A decision needs to be made whether to accept the offer or refuse it. That is the choice placed before every man.

Jesus stepped in and paid the fine that no one could afford to pay. He gave His life to provide a way for everyone to be forgiven of their sin, to be with God forever. But it is up to you to decide to accept the gift. It is the only way to heaven, but He will not force it upon you. You have to decide whether to accept the “free gift of salvation” or refuse it. The decision is yours.