I saw a quote by a charismatic preacher in Colorado named Ted Garner where he said that humans are in one of two trees; the tree of knowledge of good and evil and tree of Life. The first tree is external where we try to live life from the outside in. For example, we try to keep God’s commandments legalistically, This can result in having a harder life, feeling like we are doing it out of own efforts, and can make us more judgmental towards others.

If we are in the tree of life, we are living life from the inside out. This is also called the life hidden with Christ in God. Everything feels more natural in this tree. We are more focused, and everything just falls into place. Jesus even said if we seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, all else would be added.

The tree of knowledge of good and evil is man’s attempt to eat of the forbidden fruit, which is questioning God and trying to be God. The man in this tree will probably value science over true religion, with the former leading to an actual worship of scientific knowledge.

Life will feel harder if we are in the tree of knowledge. Not that knowledge in and of itself is a bad thing, since it takes knowledge to do anything. This may sound like a prosperity gospel, but life wasn’t meant to be hard or a struggle.

Why is the tree of life so hard to get into if it promises so many blessings? Because humans over complicate things when all God asks us to do is trust Him. Every time we doubt God and trust in our own faculties we take a bite out of the forbidden fruit.