TEXT: Genesis 1:26-28; 2:21-25

It was the sixth day of God’s creation. As God looked over His world, He knew that His plans were almost completed. He had made the earth and the sky, the plants and the animals, the fish and the birds, and all the little bugs too. He liked what He saw. Everything God had made was good, but something was missing. What was it?

Think one more time about what God had made. Did you figure it out? There weren’t any people! There was no one to take care of the plants and the animals. Even more importantly, there was no one for God to walk around with and talk to. God liked all the animals, but He wanted someone who could speak and think and love. He wanted someone to be His friend. The animals had each other to be with, but God wanted someone like Himself. So he made man who could share His love and joy.

A stillness filled the air. Perhaps the birds and animals sat quietly waiting, knowing something wonderful was about to happen. Man would be much different from everything else God had created.

God took some of the dust of the ground and began to form man. God worked carefully, making man in His own likeness. When God finished, He breathed into the man with His own breath. That was the breath of life. The Bible tells us that at that moment man became a living soul. God called this first man Adam.

Don’t you think that when Adam opened his eyes and saw God, he loved Him? God had given Adam a heart of love. God and Adam often talked together. They were good friends and they loved to spend time with each other.

God told Adam to give names to all the different animals that He had made. It would also be Adam’s task to take care of the lovely world God had created.

That would be a big job for Adam. God knew that Adam would need some help. He also knew that Adam would be lonely without someone of his own kind to talk to. So God caused Adam to go sound asleep. While he slept, God took a rib from Adam’s side. From that bone He made a woman and gave her a living soul also. When Adam woke up, God brought the woman to him. God’s plan was for the woman to be Adam’s helper and wife.

Adam called the woman Eve. Together, Adam and Eve walked and talked with God in the beautiful world He had created. They were happy people.

PARENT’S CORNER

Take a large piece of butcher paper and trace your child’s shape onto it. Let him fill in the features and color the clothes. Across the top of the paper write the words, “God Made Me!”

Talk about the different things your child can do with the body parts God gave him. He uses his hands to clap, draw, and throw a ball. With his feet he can run, kick, and pedal a bike.

Help him see what a very special creation he is – one made in “the image of God.”

FAMILY DEVOTIONS