He is Risen: Lent Devotional for Moms and KidsSample

He is Risen

by Tara Davis

Day 2: Snake and fruit (ornament in the first blank flag)

Read: Genesis 3:1-7, Genesis 3:22-24

Discuss: Long ago, our God who created everything made a beautiful garden. Lush greens, fragrant blossoms, colorful fish and peaceful animals filled the garden. This creation was perfectly fashioned by its Creator without a single flaw. Then God lovingly made Adam and Eve to tend the garden, to walk with Him, to live in friendship with Him forever. He gave them all of the most beautiful gifts and lavished on them unending love. And in return, He asked just a single thing: they must not eat the fruit from one certain tree in the garden. This tree, the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, would open their eyes to sin, evil, and death. God wanted to spare them the hurt that comes along with these desperately sad things because He loved His children so.

But one day, Satan, the great enemy of God, came to Eve in the form of a serpent. With his beauty and cunning lies, he tempted Eve with the fruit from the forbidden tree. He promised that the fruit would make her wise and powerful. She fell for his lies and promises, the desires of her heart pulling her away from her loving Father. Eve chose to disobey God. After she took a bite of the fruit and shared it with her husband, Adam, they realized they had made a terrible mistake. A wave of heartsickness and fear rushed over them. Sin had entered their lives. Sin had broken through God’s perfect creation and with it a deathly shadow was cast over the beautiful garden. The eternal wages of sin is death and that day death entered into the world. All seemed lost. How could this ever be repaired? How could the once-perfect world, now broken by sin and death, ever be made right again?

But God, in His mercy and grace, had a plan. Just like a loving daddy who would do anything to rescue his children, God set a rescue plan into motion. A plan that would require sacrificing His most precious Son, Jesus. This plan was the thing that would make all things new, that would bring all who choose Him back into the Father’s loving arms again. This rescue plan is a Love Story greater than all other love stories that has ever been told. And you, precious child, are at the very heart of this rescue mission.