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Today, I am over at Making-Space, posting my thoughts about the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Our church is going through through The Story over the next 31 weeks, and Tom has been working hard to launch this blog to accompany it. I'm excited about contributing to it over the upcoming months.

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In Chapter 1 of The Story, we learn of Adam and Eve, created and placed in the garden of Eden. They are beloved by God, walking in partnership with each other and with him. And they are free to eat of any fruit in this garden, except for the tree of knowledge of good and evil.


It’s hard to understand why eating fruit was such a big deal. Why was this certain tree off limits? It was just a piece of fruit, and it seems unnecessary for God to restrict them from eating of it. But eating a particular fruit wasn’t the issue, it was what Adam and Eve wanted from it. This tree symbolized the sin which plagues humanity: the knowledge of good and evil. Adam and Eve wanted to see like God. They wanted to be like God. They wanted to judge like God.


Today, we are plagued by our need to see and think like God. We want to know the details on every failure around us. Why did the celebrity couple divorce? Who cheated on who? Why is the homeless man on the street corner every day? Can’t he get a job? And we don’t just want to know, we want to pronounce our judgment on the goodness or evilness of the things we see. We think we know how these people should behave. We think we have the answers.


The serpent told Adam and Eve that eating of the tree would make them see like God. But this was a lie, and when their eyes were opened, they saw but a blurry and distorted version of how things really are. They could only focus on their own nakedness and their need to blame another. And today we, too, think we have clear “good and evil” glasses. But all we can really see is our own brokenness, and all we can really do is blame another person for the evil in the world.


Head here to keep reading!



P.S. Thanks to everyone who read and commented on my post yesterday. It meant a lot.

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