Understanding the Tree of knowledge of Good and Evil

Freedom is not exactly cheap or free. I miss the days when I was younger when I don’t have to worry about what to eat but instead eat whatever my parent provided. Back then though, it’s not exactly appreciated because I was longing for a time when I will become an adult, having the freedom to choose whatever I want to eat. 

Growing up now, I realised that being able to decide what I want to eat is not as straightforward as I thought. It means that I need enough money in my pocket to be able to arrogantly make that choice. To have enough money I need to work hard enough. Now, that’s beside the fact that making such decisions must factor in the concept of forgone opportunities-meaning, do I really want to spend N20,000 to enjoy whatever I want or do I want to pay my light bill, water bill, buy gass, fuel my car for one week and more. 

Turns out being free to choose is not as easy as I thought and I really wish my parent can come to take control back right now. 

Before the fall of man, God assumed the responsibility of defining what is good and what is bad. It was a really complex world and every decision affects many other things which in turn affected multiple other things. God goes through all the complexities and arrives at a conclusion for man and all he needed to do was obey-this life was much easier. 

However, like the childhood version of me, the devil got the man to think that somehow if he takes his destiny by his hand, he can start making choices rather than taking orders. The choice of the tree of knowledge of good and evil was man’s way of saying God can’t possibly be enough, I want more! This quest for more apart from God landed the man in a deep mess. 

As it turns out, the man wasn’t as good at making choices as he thought, even the very best of his intentions always ends up with one collateral damage or the other. Then, the good that man thought he could do or become became a subjective matter very quickly with every man defining a standard of good that suits him best even at the expense of another man. In the end, one man’s definition of good is always another man’s definition of evil. We figured out very fast that no man is good, except God. 

To rescue us, God is offering us a chance at the first relationship again, to be good enough by his definition and the definition of other men. First, by accepting and resting in the finished work of his son, we become good enough before him. By following the instructions in his manual we will automatically live an objectively good life and our good cannot be evil spoken of, except of course by people who haven’t come into the same saving faith.

The question is are you willing to submit to him or you will rather pursue the righteousness of your own which is not righteousness at all. Christ is enough for me, you?