“To us who are being saved, it is the power of God,” (Paul to the church at Corinth in 1 Corinthians 1:18).
The good news is that God is good. He’s not only better than we are, He is good beyond our ability to understand. In the greatness of His goodness, He has provided another tree of trust for us. He wants to plant it in the middle of our lives.
This tree is for all those, who like Adam and Eve, failed with the first one. It’s for those who, like them, have tried to cover the guilt of their failure through their own fig leaves and hiding behind trees but have found that none of that worked. It’s for those who have tried hiding behind sympathizers or tranquilizers, new clothes or new cars, makeovers or takeovers, but for all their efforts have realized that something is still missing, something isn’t right.
Through His grace, God gave us another tree of trust. This one He planted on a little hill called Calvary. If the first tree was our death, this tree is our life. If eating the first tree meant paradise was lost, partaking of this tree means paradise is regained. Perhaps the most important difference is that while the first tree sat in the garden of law, this tree sits in the garden of grace.
With the first tree, one mistake and you were finished—there were no second chances. There were no reprieves, just banishment. With the second tree, it is different. The demand is not perfection, but honesty. It’s honestly making your best effort to trust in God’s determination of what is right and wrong, His goodness, and that what He commands is for our own good and in our best interests. Last but not least, it’s honestly confessing our sin because we trust in what He did for us on that tree to forgive us when we have done less than our best.
In our pursuit of holiness, this forgiveness means everything. Without it, our feeble attempts at imitating God’s character would simply place us on the well-worn path of constant self-condemnation. Satan knows this. That is why he so desperately wants to keep us away from this tree of trust. He knows that our coming to the second tree means that we will find the security and strength we need to survive our struggle with sin. He knows our hope for wholeness hangs upon the second tree.
Yes, God is good. What He did for us on Calvary’s tree makes up for what Adam and Eve did with their tree.It makes it possible for us to be forgiven for what we have done with our trees. That’s a tree we can trust, a God we can trust, and Someone who is good.
A Taste of Grace with Bruce Green 