Eden's BlueprintSample

Day 2

In Genesis 2:8-9, it says, “Then the Lord God planted a garden in Eden in the east, and there he placed the man he had made. 9 The Lord God made all sorts of trees grow up from the ground—trees that were beautiful and that produced delicious fruit. In the middle of the garden, he placed the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil" (NLT).

Two trees within an entire garden that held special significance to God, and He invited Adam and Eve to share the value He had for them. One contained life, the other contained the knowledge of good and bad.

Have you ever wondered why God created them? Maybe it’s a riddle we will only discover in Heaven, but I wonder if you could get curious about these two trees with me.

After Adam and Eve ate from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Bad, God closed the access to the Tree of Life. Now, that sounds dramatic, but stay with me and you will see it's a little Jesus-esq. The tree's purpose was to give life eternal (Genesis 3:22 – “What if they reach out, take fruit from the Tree of Life, and eat it? Then they will live forever!” NLT) With that being its purpose, it doesn’t take much to understand that this Tree of Life sounds like what Jesus said to Martha in John 11:25-26. “I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even after dying. Everyone who lives in me and believes in me will never ever die" (NLT). Here, Jesus effectively revealed Himself as the Tree of Life. The angels no longer stopped people from coming to Him. Jesus wouldn’t even let the disciples stop the children from coming to Him. He is life!

If one tree represents life, what of the other tree? - Like the tree of life, its title gives it away - The knowledge of good and bad. Surely, it is not a bad thing to know the difference between Good and Bad? No, I don’t believe it is. Good and bad things are helpful to understand. They help us make plans and decisions. But the Bible shows us that these two trees give very different results. One brings death, and the other brings life. Stay curious with me.

I wonder if we have been looking for what is right and wrong for so long that we have become used to one tree's fruit and not the other. Have we neglected to understand that there is a second option, one we were invited to eat: life. Think about the Pharisees and of the metaphoric tree they would often eat from. Right and wrong became their life. Their debates and arguments with Jesus showed the tree they ate from. Their laws became their relationship with God. They were fixated on them. Some would even say they worshipped them. They only wanted to do right, but to do so, they needed to articulate and avoid what was wrong. Hence the rules. But remember what happened to Adam and Eve when they ate from this tree: shame. Shame is a stealer of life, not a giver. How would it feel if you only ever thought about all the things you have done wrong, and tried to put rules in place to avoid those things? This is where shame lives. The Pharisees attempted to avoid shame by doing this, creating laws to govern their lives. If our faith is so caught up in rules and laws, in an attempt to hold onto holiness, we will miss what God has designed us for.

Not far from this tree stood another. It is not burdened by rules and laws, but carries life. Eternal life, and this life produces abundance. Eating from it does not result in shame. No strings attached. No invented laws that were too heavy for anyone to carry. No fig leaves needing to be sewn together. No need to hide, for there is no shame. Jesus is that Tree. Nothing is stopping you from eating from it. It's time to find yourself sitting under this tree. Are you tired of being controlled by right and wrong? Maybe today is the day to try another fruit.

Application:

Find a memory that is life-giving. A time or place where your spirit soars when you go back to it. For me, it’s an island in Scotland, called Iona. My wife and I spent two days on it. On one of those afternoons, we dozed on one of its beaches. The water was clear and blue. So blue that it could have been mistaken for the Caribbean! The sun shone, but it was not hot. There was a gentle breeze, and we let the afternoon just pass us by. It was life-giving, and when I pray, I often start in my imagination on that beach, in Iona. Under the Tree of Life.

What life-giving memory would you start with? Allow your imagination to take you back there. Remember everything you can. Let your senses remind you of what you felt, tasted, smelled, and heard. Now, imagine Jesus coming and sitting there with you. Invite Him to rest with you, speak with you, or maybe just hold you. Let Jesus be Jesus and lean back into Him.

For today, read Genesis 2 and find one verse that stands out to you.