Tonight in my high school Bible study we were talking about worship and how sin can interfere with it. After all, the original sin is what separated us from God in the first place.
Our key verse was Romans 12:1: “And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice — the kind he will accept. When you think of what he has done for you, is this too much to ask?”
As we were talking about Adam and Eve, I got to thinking that there are too many options to God in our world today tugging for our attention. I actually gave an illustration about this a few weeks ago in a sermon so it was still fresh in my mind.
Here’s where the lights came on in my students’ eyes:
Question 1: How many apple trees did Adam and Eve have to stay away from?
Answer: 1
Question 2: How many “apple trees” do we have to stay away from?
Answer: Oh, wow! I never thought of it that way!
It’s not anything in us that makes us holy, but God’s work in us makes us holy and pleasing to God. We’ve got to quit hanging around the apple trees and focus on the one who makes us holy.
