What Life-Giving Means to ME

Life-Giving

Are you hearing this term? I hear “life-giving” everywhere I go these days. Recently in a meeting, I was asked what it meant. For me it means a lot. When I first heard the term I was a young man in high school going to a Christian school and struggling with the whole idea of church and serving God.

I wasn’t sure if I wanted to do the whole church scene. People thought they were right and everyone else was wrong. I was tired of always trying to do right and fighting with questions of who was right and who was wrong. It seemed that even the church as a whole was struggling with these same questions. I was tired of it.

Then I was introduced to the life-giving idea found in the second chapter of the Bible, Genesis 2:8. God created mankind and desired for them to live in peace and innocence in the Garden of Eden enjoying all that He created. He placed two trees in that garden one the Tree of Life and the other the Tree of The Knowledge of Good and Evil. When mankind ate of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil they became like God and sat in the seat of judgment knowing what was good and evil. They instantly lost their innocence and realized things that were there all along, but know felt shame and even wanted to hide. Here is where it all made sense for me.

God never intended for us to live from the tree of knowledge, but from the tree of life. When you live in from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil you are constantly trying to determine what is good and what is evil, who is right and who is wrong. I was taught to judge everything and didn’t realize I could be right and still be wrong. Even the good in that tree still leads to death. The bible was all about rules and regulations. I hated that.

When you live from the Tree of Life you go back to innocence and get out of the seat of judgment. Decisions became not what was right or wrong, but instead asking what would bring life to me or what would bring death to me. Church became not what I have to do to be good, but I began to learn that going to church was about being with imperfect people worshiping a good God that adds life. Jesus came not to judge me, but to add life to me and life like I had never known. His word was not a rule book of right and wrong, but a plan to add life and value to me and those around me. I quite trying to judge everyone else and instead just judged myself and would ask myself in the times of temptation will this decision bring life to me and those around me or death to me and those around me, will this action add value to my life and others or take value and hurt those around me?

I went from feeling I have to go to church to I GET to go to church. I have to pray and read my bible because that is the right thing to do, to I get to read my bible and pray because it will add life and value to me. I experienced relationship with the living God and he was not mad at me if I didn’t follow the rules, instead he is there cheering me on to make decision that will help me rather than destroy me.

This Life-Giving perspective helps me stay out of the judgment seat and remain in the innocence of loving and encouraging others to make life giving choices instead the alternative, life sucking decisions.

This is a continual life long journey, a daily decision that has to be made. Every day I can swing over to the tree of knowledge or the tree of life. It is so much better to live out of the tree of life and I have never regretted it! There is so much more to say on this topic but that is for another discussion.