"The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil." Genesis 2:9b.
"1 Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?”
2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; 3 but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’”
4 Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings."
With this man took his first steps from God and began the process of living on his own.
22 Then the LORD God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, to know good and evil. And now, lest he put out his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever”— 23 therefore the LORD God sent him out of the garden of Eden to till the ground from which he was taken. 24 So He drove out the man; and He placed cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life.
You would think becoming like God and knowing good from evil would be a good thing. To the natural mind it would seem like the only way to live. Are we not supposed to be good? Isn't that the very definition of our Christianity? I would say that is the prevailing belief, but I believe it is at the center of our struggle for a living, successful, and sustainable relationship with God. Why is it in our day so many have fallen away and given up hope in their relationship with God. I believe it is partly in the burden of trying to do good year after year and not feeling like it is working. It seems to be a tough sell getting people to come to church, and why not? Who wants to come and hear someone encouraging the downcast to try harder. I believe we have missed the message of the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ and the life we were meant to live with Him and replaced it with a message from the knowledge of good and evil.
In our salvation is not only the initial cleansing of our sins, but the ongoing ability to walk above our sins and the limitations of our common humanity. In our day that message has been lost to some extent. I don't believe it is some grand conspiracy theory or anything like that. In America our credo is to try harder.We can do it! Pull yourself up by your boot straps, self made man, and all that John Wayne and Rambo stuff that is in our culture and our fiber. I believe it has bled over into our gospel as well. It wasn't until I had lost all I had worked for that I saw how much of me was wrapped up in what I did. Reality was I was building for me not for Him way too much. It wasn't all bad I know, but it hurt too much to make the same mistakes again. This is the reason I blog. Jesus died not only to save us from our sins, but also to live inside us and do in us what we can't do in ourselves. When we choose to live and learn on our own and use our gifts and abilities to keep us safe and protected we live by that tree that killed us in the first place. It said in the day that you eat you will die and die we did. Not a natural death but a spiritual one. A death where we were separated from our Creator. And when we live from that tree now, we live separated lives that don't fulfill and are not inspiring. I believe Jesus wants our lives to become inspiring again. What is it in you that makes you so different? You know who........
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