Tale As Old As Time

A boy was told by his father not to play with his father’s watch. While his father was away, the five-year-old initially decided he would just “look” at the watch and not play with it. But as the boy grabbed the watch, he put it on his wrist, just like he would see his dad do all the time. He began to play around the house with the watch on his wrist. But while he was running, he tripped, fell, and landed on his wrist and his dad’s watch. The glass face of the watch was cracked and broken; the hands wouldn’t move anymore. The boy was scared. He grabbed some tape, wrapped the watch face to “fix” it, and placed the watch back where his dad had left it. When his father came home, he couldn’t find his son. As the father called and looked around, he found his boy crying under his bed, ashamed of what he had done. This story isn’t unique. Kids have an interesting way of dealing with guilt, sorrow, and conviction of wrongdoing. They try to fix things—unsuccessfully. They hide, lie, and avoid getting into trouble. The struggle with guilt and shame is nothing new. In fact, we could say that people are hardwired not only to sin but also to realize wrongdoing. The book of Genesis describes the creation of the universe and the creation of human beings. There was no sin in the world until Adam and Eve disobeyed God’s command not to eat the forbidden fruit. Before this, Adam and Eve had an intimate relationship with God and were innocent, even to the point that they didn’t have clothing. When they ate of the fruit, they realized they were naked. The Bible says, “Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths. And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden” (Genesis 3:7–8).