IJWTS I have a cool story, you can skip over it if you want since it's lengthy
<Ephesians 2:14-22>
For He Himself is our peace, who has made
both one, and has broken down the middle wall of
separation, having abolished in His flesh the
enmity, that is, the law of commandments
contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself
one new man from the two, thus making peace,
and that He might reconcile them both to God in
one body through the Cross, thereby putting to
death the enmity. And He came and preached
peace to you who were afar off and to those who
were near. For through Him we both have access
by one Spirit to the Father. Now, therefore, you
are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow
citizens with the saints and members of the
household of God, having been built on the
foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus
Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in
whom the whole building, being fitted together,
grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom
you also are being built together for a dwelling
place of God in the Spirit.
What has alienated man from God?
Half a century has passed since the end of the Korean War. But it left tremendous wounds among the Korean people. In the aftermath of the Korean War, many young children were adopted to foreign countries. Even though the United Nations forces came to Korea and helped enormously at that time, but many children were left fatherless after the soldiers left.
Many of the UN soldiers who had wives and children here left their families behind when they returned home. Many of these children were then again abandoned to orphanages by their mothers and then sent away for adoption to foreign countries. It was actually very fortunate that these young people could find foster parents and be brought up very well. These adopted children realized that they looked quite different from their parents and their neighbors as they grew older, and they learned that they were adopted from a far away country called Korea. Why did my parents abandon me? Did they send me away to this country because they hated me? With their young minds, these children just couldnt understand what had happened. Their curiosity and hatred toward their real parents began to grow in tandem with a longing to meet them. I wonder what my parents look like? How could they abandon me? Did they do it because they hated me No, there was probably a reason for this. They probably had many misunderstandings and sometimes even felt extreme hatred. And at other times they likely resolved not to think about it anymore. Before they were even aware of it, time had passed and the children grew up to be adults. They got married, had children and formed families of their own. I became interested in these children through a program on one of the local TV networks. In this program, a TV reporter interviewed a woman now living in Germany who had been adopted. This woman was in her twenties at that time and was studying theology. At first, the woman very much tried to avoid meeting the reporters because she didnt want anyone else to become aware that she was adopted. The reporter persuaded her to understand that submitting to an interview would help stem the tide of adoptions to foreign countries. The woman agreed. One of the reporters questions was, What would you say if you could meet your real parents? What are you most curious about? The woman answered, I just cant understand why they had to put me up for adoption. I want to ask them if they hated me. Her birth mother saw the womans interview on TV, contacted the broadcasting station, and said that she wanted to meet her daughter. This is how the two came to meet. The mother went very early to the airport and waited for her daughters arrival. When the young woman emerged from the exit, her mother could only stand there and weep. These two people had never met face to face. The first time the mother saw her grown-up daughter was when she appeared on TV. Even though they spoke different languages, they could talk with their hearts, and through the emotional looks they exchanged. They touched each others faces while the mother begged for forgiveness for what she had done. All she could do was cry and repeat that she was very sorry. The mother brought her daughter home and they ate together. Of course, the daughter only spoke German and the mother only Korean so they couldnt communicate verbally. But somehow the fact that they were mother and daughter allowed them to make themselves understood. They had many wordless conversations and expressed themselves through gestures, touching each others faces and talking with their eyes and their hearts. By the time she returned to Germany, the daughter knew that her birth mother loved her. The same reporters that had conducted the previous interview spoke to her once again before her departure. There was no need for me to ask why my mother had given me up for adoption. My mother is poor even now. Wealthy people in this country are so rich that they drive foreign cars, but my mother is still living in poverty. She went on to say, Even though I didnt ask my mother that question and didnt receive an answer from her, I could see that she sent me away to save me from poverty. That is why I didnt feel the need to ask her that question, and why all doubts and hatred are now gone.
Why do we become separated from God, and why cant we draw near to Him? The woman who was put up for adoption learned that her birth mother sent her away to save her from poverty. Is the same true of God? God created us in His own image. What could have separated us from Him? The answer is that Satan tempted man to commit sin, and sin separated him from God. Originally, God created man in His own image and dearly loved His creation. Men were made as an object for Gods love and possessed more nobility than any other creation. However, a fallen angel named Satan worked to alienate man from God. Satan tempted man not to believe in Gods words, and made him eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Man was thus separated from God due to his sin. Man was disobedient to God. Man did not eat the fruit of the tree of life, which gives eternal life and which God allowed, but instead ate the forbidden fruit that gave him knowledge of good and evil. The result was that man was separated from God. Previously the object of Gods love, man disobeyed and became separated from Him out of arrogance. Due to the sin that came to dwell in his heart, man was eventually alienated from God. After that, man lived apart from God for a long time and complained, Why did God abandon us after He made us? Why did He let us commit sin? Why does He send us to hell after making us weak? It would have been better if He hadnt made us in the first place. We lived with many questions, as well as curiosity, doubts and hatred before we were born again. When I saw the adopted woman on a TV program, I realized that the relationship between man and God is the same as the relationship she had with her real mother. No tribulation, misunderstanding, curse or sin of any kind could separate man from God under any circumstances.