Tree of Life

The dying Jesus is the evidence of God's anger toward sin; but the living Jesus is the proof of God's love and forgiveness.  ~Lorenz Eifert

When you suffer on this earth the place where suffering started is at the Tree of Life.  How ironic is that. When Adam and Eve ate from the Tree of Life they chose a path that led to decay and destruction.  Up to that point they lived in paradise.  Can you imagine a place where you didn't worry about getting cold or hot because God made the temperature perfect? They didn't need stores because they didn't need clothes and food was everywhere around them so they didn't need Tom Thumb or Walmart.  Medicine wasn't a requirement because you never got sick.  They actually were able to walk with God in the garden.  

Sadly, at the moment that they ate the fruit, their hearts were corrupted and every human after that except Jesus had or has a diseased heart.  Throughout history we have continued to rebel against God and the saddest part is we cannot blame God for our situation but that is often what happens.  We blame God for anything bad that happens to us but praise him for the good.  

Trouble will come to every one of us in this life and if it hasn't for you yet, it is just a matter of time.  I don't say that to discourage you but there is no insulation from the troubles of life in our fallen world.  The best thing we can do in this life is build our relationship with God because He is the answer when trouble comes.  The only thing God ever wanted from us was obedience and we lost paradise because of disobedience.  

Prayer for the Day:  Heavenly Father, I praise you for creating me.  I know that trouble will come to me at various times in my life.  You are not to blame.  Sometimes the trouble is caused by me and my disobedience and other times someone else is disobedient and someone will pay the consequence.  Thank you Father for loving me enough to create a way out for anyone who chooses You.     

Scripture:    To the woman he said,"I will make your pains in childbearing very severe; with painful labor you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you. ”To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’ “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life.  It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field.  Genesis 3:16-18