The Lie From the Garden, Part Two

C.S. Lewis' book shows a parallel event to the encounter Eve had in the Garden of Eden, in the beginning of mankind's history. The snake announced to Eve in the garden, that she would become like God, if she ate from the tree of knowledge - the only tree God had forbidden Adam and Eve to eat from.

The conversation we find in our Bibles is probably just a summary of a longer exchange between Eve and the snake. At the time the snake asked this question, Eve had already been tricked into believing, that she lacked something in order to be like God. The devil had fooled her into believing, God did not make her and her husband in his own likeness - they already were like God! A simple, deceptive lie was a foundation for this suggestion to eat from the tree of knowledge. Adam and Eve were glorious beings who looked, thought and acted like God, until that time. Mankind is God's crown of creation.

In a similar way, the devil and his colleagues are trying to make us believe today, that God is not near us or with us. He wants us to believe that he is too far away in order to hear us when we would communicate with him. But the truth is, every human being is as close to God as he wants to be. If you are a Christian, you have Jesus living inside of you, the so-called hope of glory (Colossians 1:27). It does not get any closer than this. :)

If we would believe that Jesus is constantly with us, listening attentively to every word or thought we send in his direction, most of us would live very differently. Let's believe this and do great exploits with God, because of our intimate knowledge and friendship with him.

Once we fully realize how close the Lord is to every one of us right now, I believe we would fall down on the floor and pass out for a while, like the apostle John did in Revelation 1:17.

The Lie From the Garden, Part One

As I was reading the second book from C.S. Lewis' space trilogy this week, it felt like the Holy Spirit gave me understanding in an aspect which I was not able to see as clearly before. Is it not exciting to be on this journey of growing ever closer in relationship with the one who made the universe? I just love it. It helps us to see the purpose of life more clearly and to know where we are going.

Our minds were not made to just consider aspects related to a limited time frame of 100 years or less. They were not made to just think about the developments on a single planet called earth (although this seems to be overwhelming in itself, at times ;). In my opinion it is reasonable to assume we are called to use up to 100% of our brain capacity, like Jesus does. Does it not sometimes seem he was further ahead in his mind than most of the people around him, when we read the Bible?

I believe Adam and Eve used close to 100% of their mental capacity as well, before they came under the leadership of Satan through believing his lies. That began the process of changing into the image of their new leader / father, who seemingly operates on a limited amount of his mind, as well. Otherwise he would make much better decisions.

Now we are back on track through our relationship with Jesus, obviously. But the enemy does not stop trying to influence our minds, since he is scared of believers who walk in their full potential and who grow in their friendship with God, every day. Spending time with God also increases our SQ - our spiritual quotient. Our SQ is actually much more important than our IQ or EQ (emotional quotient), although everything helps.

The introduction got longer than planned, before I could get to the unveiling that came through reading C.S. Lewis' book. This means I have to make this a series with several parts. Social media statistics reveal shorter blog post are just read far more often than long ones. And I am not just sharing this for my own enjoyment. :)