As we become more effective disciples of Jesus Christ, as we go deeper with the Lord and in following Him, the more our choices will be choosing between the good of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, and the Tree of Life, truly doing what is God’s will for your life. There are a lot of good things that you could be doing that have nothing to do with God’s will for your life, therefore have nothing to do with life.
Many times people have suggested to me the church does certain things – maybe start an orphanage, maybe a food bank, maybe a school. But unless the Lord leads, it will not be life, it will just be good, and that’s the wrong tree!
If you want to know the will of God for your life and live from the Tree of Life, you have to spend time with Jesus. Many times Jesus will say something to you that goes beyond what a carnal person thinks is good and evil.
Jesus actually said that if you come to him and do not hate your own father and mother, and wife and children, and brothers and sisters, in fact if you do not hate your own life, you cannot be His disciple (it’s in Luke 14.26). We all know God is love, Jesus is love, the Spirit is love, and God loves us. There is no higher love than Jesus. But Jesus does not say love everyone the same. He says compared to Him and your love for Him, you should hate your father. The Ten Commandments tell us to honour your father. This is a hard saying unless you are a disciple of Jesus. But there are times where if following Jesus means you do something that your parents think is hate, you do it.
When I refused to go to medical school and went to Bible School, my parents certainly felt like I had made a wrong decision. When I entered the ministry, they made that very clear to me.
But what about hating your wife? If your wife is telling you not to go to church, is criticising Jesus, your church, your pastor, to you and you stand up for Jesus and are a disciple of Jesus, she may feel like you are hating her. But you have to be a disciple for Christ. It may look like your marriage has a lot more strife, and someone carnal might criticise you for your marriage, and you could have a more “successful” marriage. But Jesus said that’s the wrong tree.
Most Christians never think about these things, because they live a life so far below the level of discipleship of Jesus and so far from the tree of life. That’s why they don’t dominate life and circumstances and are otherwise dominated by them!
What about hate your children? Are you not supposed to care for your children, nurture your children? I am not writing this to excuse carnal hate or people who ignore their spouses or children, I am writing this to let you know sometimes you will have to do something for Jesus that seems uncaring.
Finally – hate your own life! Most people never reach that point where they act in a way that looks like they hate their own life. But if you want to stay impressing the world, if you want to stay making your flesh happy, if you want to be liked, if you want to be logical – you will tie yourself to the tree of knowledge of good and evil, and lose contact with God! Think about loving your son. No one loved their son more than God. God loved Jesus – but then sent him to be murdered in the most horrific way. That doesn’t look like love – but it was love. It’s not love in a logical standard, in a carnal standard, but to the spiritual it makes perfect sense.
We have to draw near to the Lord and let Him draw near to us. If God had not “hated” his Son, you would be going to hell. If God had not let His Son perish, you would be perishing right now. If we are to become true disciples of Jesus Christ, we need to leave traditions behind and walk in true life, no matter what anyone else thinks.
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