The Garden of Eden was such a beautiful place, where the presence of God was abiding with man. Man lacked nothing, everything was at perfect peace and alignment with the father. God had literally given man every tree to eat from within the Garden because He had made all things good and gave man dominion over all things except the Tree of The Knowledge of Good and Evil. Everybody knows the story; Man eats of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil the very thing that seemed like a ”good” thing took them straight into a life full of bondage and hardship. A burden to bear that would be passed down from generation to generation until the end of time.
I Think Some times as children of the most High God we forget that the Garden of Eden is not some distant past utopia of Earth and mans former glory that we will never get the privilege of seeing. Sometimes i feel we forget that God has made a way for us to literally abide in the Garden just like in the days of Adam through Jesus and His sacrifice. Who has made all thing perfect and clean and has delivered us from a life of bondage and striving into a place of freedom and rest in Him. He has literally given us the right to eat of every tree that He has given us to eat from, just like in the days of the garden for Adam and Eve.
When I went to go spend my alone time with God the other day after the team leader gave a teaching about resting in the finished work of God, i had few questions for Him. Wondering if i had been abiding or striving and He gave me this beautiful revelation using the Tree of Life and The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. I’m not saying I have it all figured out, I’m learning what this looks like myself but simply just sharing what God had shown me!
There is nothing more the Father desires for His children than to be free and to abide in Him the source of all things good, and in that lack nothing. So much so that he sent His son Jesus to teach us about the Kingdom of God, then make a way for us to become citizens in that Kingdom (the dwelling place of the father)through His death. All of this just to break us free from the bondage of sin and death that came ultimately through striving to keep the law of God (good and evil). So now we are in the confines of grace that comes through faith, nothing of ourselves. He lifted the very burden that kept us from truly being free, something we literally could not do ourselves but was a favor from God to us. With that being said what more can we actually do then that which was already done through Christ. So why do we put ourselves back into bondage? Why do we burden ourselves again with the old yolk of what is good or what is bad? No man is good, and God has made all things clean! We have now eaten of the tree of life and we now abide once again as sons and daughters of the Most high God in the Garden lets start living like it!
Adam and eve literally had the freedom to eat from every tree in the Garden, it was a gift from God to them. They could partake of whatever fruit their hearts desired God gave them permission to eat their fill. The same goes for us because we to now live in the Garden, we have that freedom to eat of whatever tree our heart desires as it brings life!! Christ saved us from the curse of the knowledge of good and evil and brought us to place of abundance and life in Him. He no longer wants us to be burdened by the good things He has given us. He doesn’t desire for us to vainly strive after what is “good” or “bad” when all things righteous has been fulfilled in us through Jesus but to partake in things that bring life. God has given each one of us our own convictions some different than others, things God himself has given you to enjoy as they bring life but sometimes us as humans living in that mentality of right and wrong can miss out the manifold freedom God wants us to live in. It can seem like a “good“ thing to walk living your life this way but you are really limiting and putting a box on the freedom He has given you. He’s given us a garden full of fruit to eat from, so eat, be joyful, with a heart full of thanks the tree which your taste buds desire according to that which God has given you.
Often times we as Christians can get stuck in a place of religion instead of a place of abiding in the father. Christ did not die so that you could prove your righteousness with vain works, but instead so that we could enter into a place of rest and relationship with the ultimate source of life. Who being a good father gives his kids good gifts, and those gifts stemming from the source of life will bring life to those He gives them too. So yes the bible is a good gift but are you reading it out of a place that brings life or is it a burden that has become another task you do to satisfy your self righteousness because its the “good” thing to do; Just being a practical example. Are you striving to fulfill a promise that God has given you thinking that if you just try hard enough, or do just enough then you will see the fruition of the promise instead of trusting God and knowing that if He’s given you a promise He will fulfill it without your help. It all comes back to faith… after all it is faith that is accounted to us as righteousness. I’m not saying don’t do anything to put yourself in position for God to move because faith without works is dead but what i am saying is don’t allow the ”good thing” of following Gods promises be a burden and draining instead of life giving, It’s all about balance. These things should be driving you closer to intimacy with God and further from religious works. Less in what ”good you think your doing and more trust in what God can do in any circumstance. This principle can go for jobs, friends, families, hobbies, nights out, community, adventure, movies or just time in general. Live from a place of “does this bring life to me in this season“ and enjoy the things God has given You. Clearly sin is something that is not of God and brings death and this is not a pass to do just do whatever you want to do but instead an invitation from God to trust Him, to quit vainly striving on what is good or bad, and rest in the Garden and eat from the tree of life that comes from abiding in the source of life itself.
So what tree have you been eating from? Are really in place of rest within the father? Are you burdened by good things? Or are you abiding in the father? I encourage you to ask God and see what He shows you. This is just some things He has shown me and what he has had me pondering on the last few weeks.
