One day Farmer Green and Farmer Purple were finishing the last of their fall harvest. They had just dropped off the last load of ripe Skittles and were driving their bright pink tractor to the barn to put it away for the winter. They were arguing about the same old thing, their bright pink tractor had one bright red button by the steering wheel that they had never pushed. The reason they had never pushed that button was because there was a sticker on it that said, “NEVER PUSH THIS BUTTON”! Farmer Green wanted to push the button to see what would happen, but Farmer Purple kept saying that their bright pink tractor had worked great for 15 years, and they had never pushed that button. Why should they take a chance now?
Just as they were about to drive the bright pink tractor into the barn, it happened…a huge ferocious rabbit came hopping right at the bright pink tractor. Farmer Green and Farmer Purple screamed in horror! That rabbit looked truly terrifying! The rabbit jumped over the bright pink tractor and kicked Farmer Green in the head as he went over! Behind the rabbit came something even worse! It was a snake! The Farmers started to jump off their tractor so they could run away, but they ran into each other and got their arms and legs all tangled up. One of their elbows hit the bright red button and pushed it all the way in! Right away there was a noise like a strong wind, the bright pink tractor began spinning in circles, smoke and steam surrounded them, and thousands of toothpicks came out of the tractor’s smokestack!
When the smoke and steam cleared away, they saw that they were in the most beautiful place that they had ever seen! The grass was greener than they had ever seen before, the air was cozy warm without being too hot, they could hear water running merrily in a crystal-clear stream, and they felt better than they had ever felt before! Farmer Purple said, “It looks like we have landed in another adventure! Before we do anything else, we should choose cool names suitable for rough and tough adventurers like us!” Farmer Green agreed to this, he chose the name, “Gummy Bear” and Farmer Purple chose the name “M&M”!
After this big decision had been made, our Super-Heroes got off the bright pink tractor and began to explore. They had just barely begun to explore when they heard something! It sounded like someone or something laughing with a very deep voice. They went carefully and quietly toward the sound of that laughter. Finally, they were so close that they knew that the laughter was coming just around the next bush. They peeked carefully around that bush and saw… A SNAKE!! It was not just an ordinary snake! It was huge, it had to be at least 30 or 40 feet long and it was beautiful! Its skin had every color on it in the most amazing and beautiful pattern! But the thing that was the most amazing was that this snake had feet! Lots and lots of feet, it looked very fast, and very hungry too! Gummy Bear screamed and jumped 15 feet into the air and landed upside down in the bush right beside the snake! Gummy Bear thought he was about to die, but M&M snatched him from the bush, and they began to run. Unfortunately, they got mixed up in their directions and did not run toward the bright pink tractor, they ran the other way. After running for about a mile, they heard that same laughter, and there was that same snake again! They had run around in a circle! Right away they noticed something! The snake had not moved at all, in fact the snake had not even noticed them! How could that be? They had made so much noise! Then M&M understood what was going on, he said, “We must be invisible! That snake cannot see us or hear us. If we do not step on him, he will never know that we are here!”
Then something else happened, the snake stopped laughing, and began to talk! The snake said, “I cannot believe that I did it! I got those two humans to eat the forbidden fruit, and now they are mine, God will not want them now, they have sinned! They belong to me, and nobody can take them away from me!” The snake began laughing louder than ever, but Gummy Bear and M&M now heard something else.
They heard a man and a woman crying like their hearts were breaking! They could not see the man or the woman because they were hiding in the thickest part of the forest! Gummy Bear and M&M were just about to go and look for the man and woman when they heard another voice! This voice was not very loud, but it was everywhere, and everyone could hear it! Gummy Bear and M&M knew right away that this was the voice of God, somehow, they just knew that it was His voice!
God said, “Adam! Where are you? Why are you hiding? You and Eve come out from the forest because I want to spend time with you!”
Adam said, “God! I am so guilty and embarrassed! I do not have good clothes, and I feel all dirty inside, I do not want you to see me like this!”
God said, “Did you eat the fruit that I told you not to eat? That is why you feel so dirty and why you do not want to see Me.”
Adam said, “The snake tricked Eve into eating the fruit, and then she gave some of the fruit to me, and I ate it too! I am sorry! What can we ever do so that we can feel clean inside and be friends with you again?”
God told them to come out from the trees, and Adam and Eve came out. They were so frightened and embarrassed. They were wearing a bunch of leaves and branches that they had tied together. Their clothes were prickly and scratchy, and they looked like they were about to fall off!
God said, “First I will get you some better clothes.”
Gummy Bear had been doing some fast thinking and he whispered to M&M, “Remember all those toothpicks that came out of our tractor? Maybe Adam and Eve could use those to make better clothes!”
God said, “Clothes made out of toothpicks would always be poking them and be uncomfortable.”
Gummy Bear was so surprised, he said, “God, how did You know what I said to M&M, we are invisible, and no one can hear us.”
God replied, “I AM God! I can see and hear everything, but like I said, toothpicks are not what we need to make clothes. Because sin was done here, blood must be shed to pay for the sin. I will make clothes for Adam and Eve out of skins from some sheep.”
After God had given the new clothes to Adam and Eve, He said to Adam, “Because you disobeyed Me and sinned by eating the forbidden fruit, you will have to work hard all your life. The ground will now grow weeds and you will have to work hard to grow food!”
Gummy Bear and M&M both yelled “Ouch’ because thistles had suddenly come up out of the ground and were pricking them!
God then said to Eve, “Because you disobeyed Me and sinned by eating the forbidden fruit, when you have children, it will hurt really bad!”
God said to the snake, “Because you did this to Adam and Eve, someday I will send my Savior, He will be born from a woman, but not have a natural father. He will defeat you Satan! Also, you snake, from now on people will hate snakes, and snakes will have to crawl around on the ground!”
Immediately all the snakes’ feet fell off and he began to slither around on the ground. The snake came toward Gummy Bear and M&M! The snake could not see or hear them, but that snake knew they were somewhere in that area. They screamed and ran away as fast as they could. In the distance they could see their bright pink tractor. Just inches ahead of the snake they jumped onto the bright pink tractor. As they were jumping onto the tractor, M&M’s nose hit the bright red button! There was the sound of a strong wind, the bright pink tractor began to spin in circles, and smoke and steam surrounded them…..
What Gummy Bear, M&M and you can learn from this story:
The story of Adam & Eve and the big snake (the serpent) is found in the Bible in Genesis chapter 3, verses 1 thru 24.
God gives each human a free choice, each person must choose to either follow God or follow Satan’s lies. Adam & Eve made the wrong choice and believed Satan’s lie and ate the fruit that God had told them not to eat. Because of Adam and Eve’s wrong choice, every human that has been born since then has been born with a sin nature, we are all sinners.
Even though we are all sinners, God still loves us! God cannot ignore sin or pretend that it does not happen, but He provides a way to be forgiven. When Adam and Eve admitted to God that they had sinned, God shed the blood of some sheep to make clothes for them. God was showing them that sin must be paid for by shedding of blood. Jesus, God’s Son, came to earth as a baby many years ago. He lived a perfect life, without making any bad choices or committing any sins, then gave His life on the cross to pay for the sins of the whole world. Jesus shed his blood on the cross because He loved you! If you had been the only person in the whole world who sinned, Jesus still would have shed His blood to pay for your sins! He loves you that much!
If Adam and Eve had not accepted the sheep-skin clothing from God, the shedding of the blood of those sheep would not have helped them at all! It is the same way with us, even though Jesus has paid for the sins of the whole world, the whole world is not automatically forgiven. Each person must accept the forgiveness that Jesus offers. If you have never given your life to Jesus and asked Him to forgive you, take time and do it right now:
- Pray and tell God that you believe in Him and believe that Jesus died to pay for your sins.
- Admit that you are a sinner and need to be forgiven.
- Ask God to forgive your sins and to come and live in your life and take over.