It's all about a Tree

I want to talk about something here that I am not sure I've heard talked about among us outside the religious system. It is my intention that after you read it, you can never be the same again.

What I am talking about is those of you outside the religious system and one of the great dangers that exist which can destroy everything that God intended to do.

What is it? Let's take a look at the first couple of chapters in the book of Genesis.
Here of course you have the creation of all things. You have all of this stuff happening for a period of six days. During this time, you see the dividing of things: such as the waters. You have the emergence of land and eventually: trees and all green things that grow.

In other words there is this fantastic environment that now exists there; waiting. 
Now, you have the creation of man. After he is created God puts him in Eden. He puts Him in the eastern part where God Himself had planted a garden.

Adam names the animals and he finds that he is missing something and so God takes Eve out of his side.

So here we have Adam and Eve in the most fantastic environment that existed on the earth. Actually it was the blending of heaven and earth. A paradise.

God had revealed something fantastic in showing Adam that it wasn't good that he would be alone.

Still here we have him no longer alone; living in the most beautiful place in the universe.

Here is one of the most amazing insights you will ever receive about the simplicity of Christ.

Adam and Eve had everything at this moment of time, and yet they truly had nothing at all!

You see, there were two trees in that Garden that stood before the human race. Two trees that will continually be eaten of until a time in the future.

Now what is the point of all of this? For those of us outside the religious system, we can have all the trappings of paradise, and yet not have anything at all.

You can have all the closeness, unity, fellowship, friendship, and joy together that it may be possible to have on this earth, and still completely miss the whole thing. You can still completely miss the whole reason for your existence.

What am I saying? I am saying that it is all about a tree! Everything was ready to go in Eden. God had revealed His will to Adam and only gave him one restriction, which was of course to not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Still, before they rebelled against God's command, there was the potential. 
What is the significance of this moment before their sin? They had everything. Or rather almost everything that could be possibly desired given to them by God.

So do those of us who see that God has always had something much deeper and profound than we are currently seeing in the religious system.

The problem we face is that we can enter into the fellowship of the saints outside the system, have everything that Adam and Eve had, and still never do the most important thing that must be done.

Even though Adam and Eve were temporarily sinless before God, and living in the most bountiful environment that has ever existed, they lacked the only thing that really mattered.

So can we who are outside the system be potentially completed misled about what is truly important to God. Really it is the only thing that is important.

Remember the story of Martha and Mary? Martha was complaining to Jesus about Mary not helping her serve. Jesus response was that Mary had chosen the only thing that really mattered and He wasn't going to take that away from her.

It is similar to when Paul writes to one of the churches and tells them that he is concerned that in the same way that Adam and Eve were deceived into rejecting the simplicity of being devoted to Christ, they also would be led astray from that same, pure, devotion.

In another place we are told that the disciples were called to be "with" Him.
Jesus also reveals that eternal life is the intimate union, or knowing of the Father and the Son.

Again Jesus tells us that He is the vine and we are the branches.

This issue caused almost everyone to leave Christ while He was on the earth.
When He told them that they must eat His flesh and drink His blood, they would no longer walk with Him.

We can be outside the religious system, seem to be doing what the will of the Father is, and still miss the whole thing.

You can look around in your present environment and believe that this is what makes things work. This is the ultimate deception.

Just like Adam and Eve, we can be dwelling in Eden, and yet not do the most important thing, and the truly only necessary thing that is needed.

You see brothers and sisters: it's all about eating from a tree! We just need to be sure it's the right tree!