Gain?

"How can you trust in a God who didn't want mankind to have knowledge?!"

This is a statement exposing a complete lack of knowledge!

Knowledge was never the problem, it was the knowledge of good and evil.

"What is the difference?"

Knowledge is good. Knowing about the human body, its working and healing process, is essential for a doctor. Knowledge of how to hack into a computer and steal a life savings from an old lady is not good.

Do you see the difference?

That, is the problem, the difference. The difference between us and God.

God is good. Jesus said that plainly. He also said than NO ONE else is as well.

The first problem with understanding this, is the lie that Adam and Eve were perfect before they ate from the tree.

Genesis 3:5-6

[5] "For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."

[6] When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.

The temptation is laid out clearly. It was to become like God. To ascend... doesn't that sound familiar? It should.

Isaiah 14:12-14

[12] How you have fallen from heaven, O morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations!

[13] You said in your heart, "I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of the sacred mountain.

[14] I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High."

This, is why satan is the father of lies. He started this. The idea that God's creations can rise up from being "less than" and becoming equal.

Adam and Eve swallowed the lie whole heartedly, acting in complete mistrust of God.

You see, faith, or rather the lack thereof, has always been the problem. The cause of separation. The bringer of death.

Death IS separation.

God is the source and sustainer of life. Separate from Him and you die.

How can you walk with someone if you don't trust them? There is no relationship.

Walking with an unreliable person is a lie from start to finish. You are either waiting for them to stab you in the back or you ar planning on doing the same... relational death, a lie.

The knowlwdge of good and evil exposes the vast difference between us and God.

Comparison

As creatures, this is already obvious. We are stuck in time, not just as a daily grind but also how we think.

HE IS, is not.

Regarding action, we do things He would never do. The Law shows this.

The Law IS the written form of the knowledge of good and evil, is it not? Doesn’t it tell you what is good and what is evil in your actions? Didn't Jesus add to it by saying that if you think it in your heart it is also true?

We lie.

We cheat.

We steal.

We murder.

We raise ourselves above others... all in the thoughts of our hearts.

"Ugh, it's true! What hope do we have!?"

Romans 7:18-25

[18] I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.

[19] For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do--this I keep on doing.

[20] Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.

[21]So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me.

[22] For in my inner being I delight in God's law;

[23] but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members.

[24] What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?

[25] Thanks be to God--through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God's law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.

Paul has already addressed this.

So, the ONLY way to be accepted by God is to trust Him through the finished work of HIM, as Jesus Christ!

Trust in Him.

Trust in the Father.

Now, here is where it gets hard. Faith alone saves. Not faith in my ability to believe, but Faith in the Father who IS the One who deals out the Faith to believe by grace.

Faith in Him saves.

"I will ascend" separates.

Every thought of your heart that is "I will ascend" separates you from God. This is why the realization our our evil, our weakness to be perfect like Him, helps us to see the truth. You cannot trust God if you think it is up to you in ANY way.

Yes, even in your "choice" to believe.

Not by works. A choice is a work. A decision is a work. It is ascending by your own hand.

Faith, real fairh in God must be complete... not partial.

NO ROOM TO BOAST!

Can you see it? Do you have the grace? Do you have the faith?

Sure, you are just a man. You cannot believe perfectly like Jesus did.

Jesus trusted the Father, even though the Father wanted Him to suffer on the cross.

No, you cannot do that. None of us can... without His grace., without the faith that He alone gives.

The idea that YOU must do something... directly opposes His grace. It shows that you don't have it. For you are still stuck with "I will ascend". You still believe the lie.

Faith, on the other hand ACTS. It acts when and where the Father wants it to.

Phillipians 2:13

[13] for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.

Free Will is part of the lie. It IS I will ascend.

Choice we have, but even that is predetermined. It is all within HIS purpose.

Does that bother you?

Yes, it does if your faith in Him is weak. The fact is, if you don't trust Him with every step you take, every thought you have, every choice you make... you are thinking YOU are higher than you are.

"So, does He make my evil thoughts!!"

Technically, yes, yes He does.

Look, it is way more complicated than we can understand.

I like to use the Author/character dynamic to explain this truth, but even that is severely limited. He even once told me "Well, it is more complicated than that, but it will suffice for you to understand it that way for now."

He told me that in around 2010, if I remember correctly. I STILL use that analogy for my own understanding, however... now, I can touch, the more. I could not explain it for the life of me, as I don't think there are words for it.

That is faith... knowing that you KNOW.

1 Corinthians 2:12-16

[12] We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us.

[13] This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words.

[14] The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.

[15] The spiritual man makes judgments about all things, but he himself is not subject to any man's judgment:

[16] "For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him?" But we have the mind of Christ.

Knowing the Father. Knowing the Son. Knowing the scriptures and KNOWING the power of God. This IS because we have been given The Spirit.

Matthew 22:29

[29] Jesus replied, "You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God.

Hiding from the truth of who and what GOD IS, is no different than Adam and Eve hiding in the bushes covered with fig leaves.

The ONLY way to come back is to see ourselves as what we are... what the knowledge of good and evil exposes, what The Law shows us!

We cannot and never will become gods. He made us lesser on purpose, to pursue otherwise is rebellion against His nature, His sovereignty, His heart.

The way back is repentance. It is accepting God completely, even the fact that He made us imperfect for a reason.

"Does this excuse sinful behavior?"

No, because all sinful behavior is an action based on a lack of faith.

However, our evil actions and thoughts reveal our separation, and offer us a way to repent, to humbly accept we are less and need Him.

We return to Him knowing, like Peter, that no matter what evil we did, He will accept us back... if we trust Him enough, know Him enough, like Peter, to humbly approach Him knowing His love for us is permanent.

Isn't that good news?

This life has a reason, every evil thought, every good experience, every bad experience... faith is knowing Him enough to know this.

THAT is the gift given by grace.

No, there is nothing you need to do, other than seek Him, KNOW Him. Trust will follow simply because HE IS trustworthy.

1 Timothy 6:6

[6] But godliness with contentment is great gain.

So, stop fighting with your failures. Don't give in to them, but rather ask Him why HE hasn't taken them from you.

2 Corinthians 12:5-10

[5] I will boast about a man like that, but I will not boast about myself, except about my weaknesses.

[6] Even if I should choose to boast, I would not be a fool, because I would be speaking the truth. But I refrain, so no one will think more of me than is warranted by what I do or say.

[7] To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me.

[8] Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me.

[9] But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me.

[10] That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Maybe, you are struggling with evil just because He is calling you closer? Since, HE is the source of grace and forgiveness, wouldn't that make sense? Life's problems aren't the only things He uses to pull people in...

Gain, is knowing God, who He is, how powerful He is and how important you are to Him.

This is the only gain worth anything in this life.

I really hope you get it.

I really hope you gain Him.