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In the Garden of Eden God placed two trees which He named.  What we as man did with those two trees would determine all the rest of history.

Besides the Tree of Life, there was another Tree in that Paradise:  The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.  This tree represented the opposite way of life.  This way of living would be motivated by what happened outside of man.  Instead of being inspired by the moving of the Life of God deep within him, if he chose to eat of this tree man would be rejecting God’s offer to come inside him and be his life.  He would be choosing a way in which he would make his own decisions, instead of allowing the flowing will of God to come through him.

Consider the name of this tree.  It was The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.  The Hebrew word for knowledge comes from a root word which, in essence, means to know by experience.  If Adam ate of this tree he would be saying to God:  “God, I want to experience the good and experience the evil in a particular situation, and then make my own decision as to which I think is best for me.”  He would be saying, “I want to decide what’s best for me.  I know better than You what direction my life should go.”  He would be declaring his independence from God.  Instead of looking like God, he would begin to look (much of the time) like satan, in whose steps he would be following.  Instead of being an expression of the life of God, he would be an expression of selfishness—the attitude which says, “I want what I want when I want it.”  Instead of being a house God could dwell in, he would be opening himself up to other “tenants”.  Stated simply:  He would be saying, “I want to make my own decisions.”

Tragedy of all tragedies, Adam chose to go his own way.  He ate of The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.  Notwithstanding that he was helped along in this decision by the master of deceit, satan himself, Adam was still responsible for his decision.  The best word to describe his action is:  sin.  The word sin means to “miss the mark.”  God had a plan for man to be a vessel through which His own life could flow.  Man missed that mark.  The stewardship of life God had entrusted to us was now marred.  We had taken a gift and used it as if we owned it.  We had stolen a perfect life and filled it with imperfection.  We had treated as worthless the greatest gift God had given to us—the gift of life.  Now that life is contaminated with the sin principle.

This root of selfishness spread like gangrene and attached itself to every part of man—spirit, soul, and body.  The fruit of selfishness, which is death, began to eat away at man’s whole being.  He who was created in the very image of God now is permeated with rebellion against his Creator.  He has stolen a life which God entrusted to him to be used as a vessel for the flow of His own life.  Mankind now owes God a debt—one perfect life.

The trouble is man no longer has a perfect life which he can bring to God to pay his debt.  His life, now being filled with rebellion, is no longer perfect.  It cannot be used as currency with which to pay his debt.  And because Adam would pass that sin on to the next generation (and they to their children), no child of Adam was ever capable of paying the debt.  Mankind was hopelessly indebted to God with no hope of avoiding the consequence of death—both physical and spiritual death.  Man was bankrupt! Dead to God. And unless man surrenders his life to Christ as his Lord he still is dead!

Think about it; because if you don’t, someone else will do your thinking for you—and for your children!  And you won’t like what that brings to you.  I’m Don Pinson; this has been Think About It.

(This message has been taken from our book Why God Birthed America.  You can order a copy of Why God Birthed America HERE)