…and He says, “you are very good.”

When God created the earth and everything in it, he set apart mankind as special. The heavens, the ground, the plants, the animals; these things he spoke into existence. Mankind, however, was made deliberately. You could say that the first man was crafted. God has absolute power – when He speaks it happens. Yet, when He considered us, He put His hands into the ground and gave Adam his shape.

God didn’t stop here, though. All the other creatures were given life because God said that His creations have life in them. For mankind, he stooped on the ground and awoke Adam with a kiss. The first thing Adam saw when He opened his eyes was God looking at him with love. God was close enough to touch and Adam could hear His voice.

When God considered Eve, he took a part of Adam and did the same thing. Eve was forged out of the ground and shaped by God’s hand. When she awoke the first time, she also saw God looking at her with love. She could also see that He was close enough to touch. She could hear His voice as well.

You were made from a part of me and a part of your mother. For nine and a half months, God knit you together in the belly of your mother. At the appointed time, you joined us. I am sorry that the first thing you saw was the concerned look of a midwife and a hand pump taking breath from you. However, you soon saw me and later your mother. When I held you, I told you that you were good – not because I have the power of God, but because it is true.

This is not the end of the story, however. God, out of his love, provided boundaries to Adam and Eve. They were simple and easily understood. One was that they could eat any fruit or vegetable to sustain themselves. The main one, though, was that they were not to eat from a certain tree.

Obeying that rule was more difficult than you may think, especially when an interloper comes and stands between mankind and God. An angel visited Adam and Eve and convinced them to disobey. When they disobeyed, they sinned against God and all their descendants.

Sin has a consequence. For Adam and Eve, it was knowing the difference between good and evil. Once they learned about evil, there was no way to protect their children from that knowledge. God even visited one of their children and warned him about the power of evil. Still, this one sin has a consequence that affects me, you, and everyone alive. Despite all the best efforts of billions of parents, children learn about evil and eventually choose it. Despite my best efforts, you have learned about evil from me, in part, because you have seen it in me.

The consequences of sin don’t go away – sin has a permanent effect on the world. This is why sin is a grave matter! Hold on to the knowledge of good that you have. It will save your life and the lives of others!

As serious as sin is, there is a remedy. The remedy is even more serious than sin because its price is so high. My son, sin can only be overcome with atonement and forgiveness. Forgiveness can be difficult to give to someone that hurts you, but over time, even hardened cynics like me can forgive. Atonement, however, is quite serious. The penalty for introducing sin into the world is blood and death. You see, the only way for the sin to die inside of a man is for the man to die. There is no other way.

God provided the blood of animals to Adam and Eve. He later provided his only Son for them and all their descendants. His son, Jesus, shed innocent blood and died. He took on the sins of the world into his own body so that sin could die with him. Through him, atonement has been given for the sin in all our lives. When he arose from the dead, sin had been conquered once and for all. When he arose, we all had a chance at forgiveness.

I will tell you more about this later. Suffice it to say that we must also die and be raised again, just like Jesus. It is the only way for our sin to die. It is the only way for us to be forgiven. It is the only way to reclaim that which God declared in us to be good. I have been through this journey and I want to help you through the same journey when the time is right.

Remember where the good comes from. It comes from God. You do not earn His love. You do not earn mine. You are good because God said so, not because of who you are or what you do. When I held you at birth and every time after that, I said that you were good because you are. Sin has a consequence, yet so does atonement. Because of sin, we know good and evil – because of atonement, we know love, faith, and hope. The penalty has been paid. Therefore, we can know the love of God, the faith of his Son, and the hope for all mankind, not just me and you.

There are so many that will tell you that you are bad. Sometimes those voices seem louder than God’s voice. Remember, you are very good, and that will never change. Despite sin, God still says that you are good. You were created very good by God, just like Adam. God’s words do not ever change. No. Never Change. When He speaks, it is reality, and no force in the universe can change it.

Yes, you will sin. Yes you will have to make amends to those whom you sin against. In order for them to forgive you, you will have to work hard to see justice done at your own expense. God has atoned for it, yes, but for the sake of others, you will have to make things right with those you have sinned against. As Paul has said, overcome evil with good. Do not let your first sin, your second sin, or your most recent sin overcome you. Do what is right because God’s perspective of you has never changed.

When you sin, we will be there and we will support you no matter what. This is true because of who you are, not what you have done or not done. As your mother and I have said many times, “Doing the right thing is not always easy, but there is always grace.” As Titus has said, the grace of God is the divine influence that continues to teach us what is good. Whatever happens, listen to that divine influence because it will teach you to choose the good and avoid what is evil.

All of this begins with love. As John says, we love because God first loved us. You were formed in love, knit together by God. God loves you. My son, God is here and he says that you are very good. Do not ever forget that.