Every great team has a great coach - a leader with a vision and the ability to communicate and teach that vision. Great coaches and great leaders are able to clearly define goals and expectations, they manage those expectations and provide praise and accountability when necessary, and most importantly, they model how the team is supposed to act and interact with each other.
The greatest coach we have is God. God created everything, and the Bible is both a game plan and a history book. The Bible tells us how we are supposed to live while telling the story of the history of the world.
The story of the Bible and man begins with how God created the world.
After God created the heavens and earth and everything in it, God created the first humans, Adam and Eve.
God created Adam first out of dust, and he placed him in the middle of the Garden of Eden to tend and watch over it. God planted beautiful trees in the garden that produced delicious fruit, and in the middle of the garden he placed the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 2:9 NLT)."
The Lord God warned him, “You may freely eat the fruit of every tree in the garden - except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If you eat its fruit, you are sure to die (Genesis 2:16-17)."
God then created Eve by taking one of Adam’s ribs when he was asleep so that Adam would never be alone.
THE FALL
Unfortunately, Adam and Eve did not obey God's commandment. The devil came to Eve in the shape of a snake and tricked her into eating fruit from the tree of life. He told her that if they eat the fruit, they will be wise like God. Eve then convinced Adam to eat the fruit.
That quickly, they disobeyed the one rule God gave them.
Have you ever done something like this? Have you ever disobeyed a simple, but tempting rule? Did you do it alone, or did you do it with someone else like Adam and Eve?
Their act of disobedience had devastating consequences. Sin entered the world, corrupting their perfect relationship between them and God. They were cast out of the Garden and forced to live in a world filled with pain, suffering, and death.
THE HOPE FOR REDEMPTION
But even when they did wrong, God offered hope. In Genesis 3:15, He promised to send a Redeemer, a Savior who would one day crush the serpent's head and atone for the sins of humanity. This Redeemer would be the ultimate athlete, running the race of life with perfect obedience and laying down his life for the victory of mankind.
Even when make mistakes, God is with us. He will never leave us nor forsake us (Deuteronomy 31:6-8).
Adam and Eve had several kids who had several kids, but they had to pay for their actions. Eve had to give a painful birth to each of their kids, and instead of just taking care of the beautiful garden forever, Adam had to work hard on the land to produce food for his family.
Times get harder when we make bad decisions.
The story of Adam and Eve is a cautionary tale about the dangers of disobedience and the consequences of sin and making bad decisions because of peer pressure.
God gave Adam and Eve one rule - don’t eat from the tree.
Eve was tricked into doing it, and then she convinced Adam to do it. This happens so many times in our lives; we are given something to do but just don’t do it, or we don’t do it when we are supposed to, and then we have to face the consequences of our actions.
But it is also a story of hope, reminding us that even in our darkest moments, God is always there with us. He loves us unconditionally and offers us forgiveness and redemption through his Son, Jesus Christ.
One of my favorite quotes is from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. He once said, “The time is always right to do what’s right.”
We can learn a lot from the story of Adam and Eve. First seek and listen to God. Then obey Him by doing the things He is telling us to do.
The same thing can be said for athletes. Seek and listen to your coaches. Then obey them by doing the things they are telling you to do.
The tricky part is being able to do so in a way that God wants. There are serpents out there trying to get you to do the wrong thing, but don’t listen to them. Pray to God for guidance and always try to do the right thing.
SOMETHING(s) TO THINK ABOUT
What is your biggest takeaway from the story of Adam and Eve?
If God told you to not eat from this one tree and someone told you that if you did, you would know everything, would you?
Has anybody convinced you to do something you know you shouldn’t do? Have you talked anybody into doing something you know they shouldn’t do?
We all make bad decisions and do things we shouldn’t do; nobody is perfect. Instead of beating yourself up because of it, how can you bounce back from bad decisions?
ADDITIONAL READING
To get the full creation story, read Genesis 1-3.
For a PDF version, click here: Adam and Eve Devotional