Story - Doing the right thing.
John Howieson worked as a labourer on a farm in a village just outside Edinburgh, Scotland. One day, whilst working on the farm, he notices a traveller walking past. As he watched, five men suddenly appeared and began attacking the traveller. Without hesitating, Howieson ran to the aid of the outnumbered traveller, and fought so hard that the five attackers all ran off. Howieson took the injured traveller back to his cottage and tended to his wounds.
After the traveller had recovered, he told John Howieson that he worked in Holyrood palace, Edinburgh where the king lived. He told his helper to be sure to visit him next time he was in Edinburgh, and that he would show him around the king's rooms, and even introduce him to the king, himself.
Sometime later John Howieson did visit the traveller at Holyrood palace, and was shown around the king's rooms. The traveller then said "Now we will go into the Great Hall, and I will introduce you to the king." Howieson was rather concerned and said "There will be many fine noblemem in the Great Hall. How will I know which one of them is the king?" The traveller replied "In the king's presence, everyone has to remove their hat. So you will know which man is the king, because he will be the only one wearing a hat."
As Howieson and the traveller entered the Great Hall, everyone removed their hats. Slowly Howieson realised that the only man still wearing a hat was his friend, the traveller! The traveller that Howieson has rescued was actually King James V of Scotland, who had the habit of travelling round his kingdom in disguise.
The king rewarded Howieson for his bravery, and bought him the farm on which he worked. But remember, Howieson came to the travellers help, not so that he would get a reward - he didn't know it was the king he was actually helping - but simply because it was the right thing to do.
The Bible tells us that we will be rewarded for the good things we do on earth, but that should not be our motive. Rather our motive should be the same as John Howieson, and we should do good and help others simply because that is the right thing to do.
Illusion - Hitting a target with a balloon.
Preparation of balloon guidance system (see Figure below).
Take a 6 or 7 meter piece of string, and thread one end through half a drinking straw. Blow up an ordinary round balloon, and tape it with sticky tape under the straw. When you let the balloon go, it will travel along the length of your string.
Illustration.
Challenge your friends to hit a target by letting go an inflated (but not tied) balloon. They start by aiming the balloon at the target (Ideally another stationary person), but once they let it go, it will probably change direction a number of times and completely miss it's target. Let them have a few attempts.
Now state that you will show them how to hit the target every time with a balloon. Bring out your guidance system. Have a volunteer stand behind your target whilst holding one end of the string. Attach your balloon to the straw near the other end of the string as described, let it go - and watch it hit it's target!
Note. Just as the balloon needed a guidance system to help it go the right way and reach it's target, we also need a guidance system to help us go the right way through life and not go off in wrong directions. God has in fact given us two guidance systems to help us. They are the Bible and the Holy Spirit. We need to let them guide us through life.
Your questions answered - Why did Adam and Eve sin against God?
The Bible tells us that in the beginning God made a perfect world, and that His finest creations were people. The first people (Adam and Eve) were made in God's own image or likeness (See Genesis 1 v. 26).
God could easily have made Adam and Eve like robots, so that they were programmed to obey him. But He wanted someone much better than that. He wanted people that would obey and love Him, but because they wanted to. Not because they had to. Thus, God gave people free will - the ability to choose. Thus Adam and Eve could choose to love and obey God, or they could choose not to love or obey Him.
Well, we all know what happened. Adam and Eve made the wrong choice - they disobeyed and rejected their Creator. But when people make bad choices, there is always a consequence, a price to be paid. Probably you have made some bad choices. Perhaps you chose to disobey your mum or dad, for example. And then found that there were consequences for it. Maybe you were punished!
There was a terrible consequence for Adam and Eve's bad choice. God placed a curse on the earth, and the whole world became "bad".
We still see the results of this today all around us. BUT THERE IS GOOD NEWS. God still loved His creation and had a plan to make things "good' again. He sent His Son to die on the cross. Now, if we put our trust in Jesus, we are forgiven all our wrongdoing and bad choices. Not only that, Jesus is able to come into our lives and make us clean and new on the inside. Now, although we can still choose to make bad choices, we are much less likely to do so as our desire now is to please God, rather than ourselves.
The Letter of Reference.
The Bible tells us that in the beginning God made a perfect world, and that His finest creations were people. The first people (Adam and Eve) were made in God's own image or likeness (See Genesis 1 v. 26).
God could easily have made Adam and Eve like robots, so that they were programmed to obey him. But He wanted someone much better than that. He wanted people that would obey and love Him, but because they wanted to. Not because they had to. Thus, God gave people free will - the ability to choose. Thus Adam and Eve could choose to love and obey God, or they could choose not to love or obey Him.
Well, we all know what happened. Adam and Eve made the wrong choice - they disobeyed and rejected their Creator. But when people make bad choices, there is always a consequence, a price to be paid. Probably you have made some bad choices. Perhaps you chose to disobey your mum or dad, for example. And then found that there were consequences for it. Maybe you were punished!
There was a terrible consequence for Adam and Eve's bad choice. God placed a curse on the earth, and the whole world became "bad".
We still see the results of this today all around us. BUT THERE IS GOOD NEWS. God still loved His creation and had a plan to make things "good' again. He sent His Son to die on the cross. Now, if we put our trust in Jesus, we are forgiven all our wrongdoing and bad choices. Not only that, Jesus is able to come into our lives and make us clean and new on the inside. Now, although we can still choose to make bad choices, we are much less likely to do so as our desire now is to please God, rather than ourselves.
The Letter of Reference.
"To Whom It May Concern:
"Bob Smith, my assistant programmer, can always be found
hard at work in his cubicle. Bob works independently, without
wasting company time talking to colleagues. Bob never
thinks twice about assisting fellow employees, and he always
finishes given assignments on time. Often he takes extended
measures to complete his work, sometimes skipping coffee
breaks. Bob is a dedicated individual who has absolutely no
vanity, in spite of his high accomplishments and profound
knowledge in his field. I firmly believe that Bob can be
classed as a high-caliber employee, the type which cannot be
dispensed with. Consequently, I duly recommend that Bob be
promoted to executive management, and a proposal will be
executed as soon as possible."
Delivered a short time later:
"That idiot was standing over my shoulder while I wrote the letter sent to you earlier today. Kindly re-read only every other line."
