Do you ever feel there is something in life you are searching for? Saying things to yourself like “there must be more to life than this”? Perhaps an emptiness or longing that you can’t quite put your finger on? 

 

When humans were created, everything that God had made was good and he intended that we have a close relationship with him. It even says in Genesis that with the first humans, God used to walk with them in the garden. This was how it was meant to be. For us to have meaning and purpose in life we are meant to have a relationship with our creator.

 

He loves us unconditionally – and he loves you just the way you are.

 

God literally is love. 

 

So if God is love – why doesn’t it always feel like that?

 

Well a problem came when those first humans disobeyed God. They were deceived into thinking that they could be like God – if they ate fruit from a tree God had instructed them not to eat from. 

 

As these people disobeyed God it caused separation – separation from their creator, and separation from His ultimate purpose. Like us today – they looked to find fulfilment, meaning and purpose apart from God.

 

We are left feeling distant, insecure, looking for significance and acceptance in any place other than God.

 

The worst thing is that the separation was permanent – meaning eternal death. That might sound a bit full-on but have you ever stopped to think about what happens when your physical body dies? 

 

When we don’t trust in God, when we live our own way this is called sin. Sin is literally separation from God. Every time we fall short of the perfection God intended for us we sin, and continue the separation that began with our ancestors.  

 

Sin has been ruling our world for a long time and even with the greatest intention we all sin everyday. In fact one of the writers in the Bible says that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Rom 3:23) and goes on to say that the wages of sin are death (Rom 6: 23).  

 

If the story ended there it would be one of the unhappiest endings you had ever heard. We can’t find a way back to God through our own works or achievements - but our mistakes don’t stop God loving us. 

 

He loves us so much that he realised that the only way to save us from separation was to deal with the sin of all humanity himself. He did this with the ultimate sacrifice – giving over His Son, who lived a life without sin and paid the price of death in our place. 

 

What God’s Son did and endured on our behalf was amazing.

 

If the price of sin is eternal death then he overcame death to give us a passage to eternal life. He stood in our place, he filled the gap and all of a sudden that emptiness, the separation that we’ve been talking about was filled. 

 

To understand the hope, the future, the eternity that we have in God’s Son, Jesus, means we first have to understand about our sin and separation from God. Now that we have done that make sure you listen to the next session to learn more about Jesus and what it means to follow him.

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QUESTIONS

• What do you think happens when you die?

• Do you believe in heaven and hell? Why or why not?

• Can you think of things you have done that have separated you from God?

• Why do you think God wants to save you from eternal death?

• What are you prepared to do, to no longer be separated from God?