God’s Main Concern is with our Eating and not with our Working, Doing, or Behavior

After God created man and planted the garden of Eden where He put man, the only thing Genesis tells us concerning God’s intention for man was that man would take care of his eating (see Gen. 2:17). God did not tell man to behave this way or that way, neither did He give commandments to man to do this or that.

God cares more for man’s proper eating than for man’s working for God or man’s behavior. In God’s eyes it is very important that man would eat the tree of life and not partake of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Man’s outcome, living, and destiny is crucially related and determined by man’s proper eating. Therefore, God both commanded man and warned him that if he eats of the wrong tree, he will die.

If we were God, we would give man only one option: eat the tree of life to receive God as life! But God is great, wise, and large at heart, and so He gave man the free choice to eat of every tree.

He could have guarded the way to the tree of knowledge of good and evil (just as He later guarded the way to the tree of life), but God would never force man to do something for Him but rather He loves man, respects man, and gives man the free choice.

The same is with us today: we have the free choice to eat of the tree of life (to receive more of God’s life) or to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil (and receive death). We need to take care of our eating more than our doing something for God!

God’s First Commandment Concerned Man’s Eating (not man’s conduct or doing)

Most people today and even many believers in Christ got it all wrong: they think God wants man to work for Him, behave in a better way, improve their character, and be better people – and then God will be pleased with them.

But if you read Genesis 1 and 2 you will realize that God’s first commandment to man was concerned with man’s eating and not with man’s conduct or man’s work for God. God cares for what man eats, because eating is critical to man – it’s a matter of life or death. If man eats Christ as the tree of life, man will receive God’s life and will spontaneously fulfill God’s purpose.

But if man eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, man receives Satan as death and he’s usurped by him for his purpose, with the result being death.

Right at the very beginning of the Bible we see that there are two different sources with two different destinations: God as life embodied in the tree of life (with the result of life, fulfilling God’s purpose), and Satan as death embodied in the tree of knowledge of good and evil (with the result being death).

Today it is the same: God doesn’t force us to choose Him; rather, He presents Himself to us as the tree of life, and He also allows the tree of knowledge of good and evil to exist.

Today in our Christian life and church life we need to realize that it is more important for us to eat Christ as the tree of life, depending on Him as life and everything, than improving our behavior, working for God, doing great things in Jesus’ name, and anything else. When we eat the tree of life, God’s purpose is automatically fulfilled in us – it is only by taking in God’s life that His purpose can be fulfilled.

The Christian Life is an Eating Life and not a Doing Life

If you read the Gospel of John you will realize that the Lord Jesus we have received into us as our Savior is the life (John 1:4), the bread of life (6:35), the water of life (4:14), and the breath of life (20:22). Our Christian life is not a doing life or a life working for God – it is an enjoying life, an eating life. God went through a long process to become our life to meet all our needs, and all we need to do is enjoy Christ as our living water, the living air, the living bread, and the food.

The key to our Christian living is eating. When someone is sick, he doesn’t like to eat, but when we are healthy, we love eating! We need to take our time to eat spiritually – it is the highlight of the day! Don’t let anything or anyone else distract you – simply eat Christ as the tree of life! Our only focus and concentration should be on eating Christ and enjoying Christ.

In a sense, we need to retire and retreat from anything else so that we may eat Christ. Turn off your mobile phone, log off your Facebook, put away anything that can distract you, and retire into your spirit! The mysterious God as life is right now in your spirit, and all you need to do is for you to open up your being and exercise your spirit – and Christ as the tree of life will feed you!

A proper Christian is not a doing Christian but an eating Christian. This doesn’t mean that we need to “seclude ourselves from the world” and go to a deserted place, somewhere in the mountains or in the desert, so that we would be “alone with God”….God wants in the middle of all things we go through and take care of, we would focus on eating the tree of life and rejecting the tree of knowledge!

We can touch the Lord wherever we are by calling on His name and praying over His word, and we will receive His life supply! Yes, there are many distractions that daily come to challenge us and force us choose the tree of knowledge of good and evil – but we need to dodge them, stay away from the land minefield of the knowledge, and choose to enjoy the Lord!

Stick with the tree of life. Eat Christ as the tree of life. Focus on eating the Lord, and you will be both a happy Christian and a satisfied God-man!

Lord, keep us eating the tree of life. May we really see that it is more important to eat the tree of life than doing anything else for You. Lord, keep us on the line of life, eating the tree of life. Keep us in the enjoyment and the presence of Christ. We choose life. Lord, we choose to eat You. Thank You for being so available and so near, always ready to impart more life to us. Lord, You are the living bread, the water of life, and the living air. We love to eat You, drink You, and breathe You in!

References and Further Reading

• Inspiration: bro. Andrew Yu’s sharing in the message and portions in, Life-study of Genesis (msg. 14), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on the Crystallization Study of Genesis (1), week/msg 6, The Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.
• Further reading: Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1965, vol. 2, “The Tree of Life”, ch. 1.
• Hymns on this topic:
  # Yet no rules He gave, no instructions, save: / “Every tree shall be to thee for meat.” / But one tree, He said, surely makes you dead; / Fruit of knowledge isn’t good to eat. / Knowledge, knowledge, / Fruit of knowledge wasn’t meant for meat.
  # The tree of life, how sweet the fruit, / With God as life complete. / I once was dead, but now I live, / Was starved, but now I eat.
  # Thus within the church-life garden / There’s a fruit-producing tree / Full of life and so available to eat. / So be simple, don’t be hardened, / Drop your concepts—eat that tree! / Take in Jesus every moment—He’s so sweet!