We’re Asking a Dead End Question

The Tree of Discernment

There were two special trees in the Garden of Eden: the Tree of Life, and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. (I’m abbreviating that last one to The Tree of Good & Evil, for short.) Adam and Eve were allowed to eat from the Tree of Life, but forbidden to eat from the Tree of Good & Evil.

We all know the story in Genesis 3; they ate from the wrong tree and the world has been paying for it ever since. So what does all that have to do with us, on a practical level, today?

A lot.

When discerning whether to do a thing or not, too often we ask a dead end question. We ask whether it’s good or bad, right or wrong. But that’s not a helpful question. That’s a Tree of Good & Evil question.

So here’s the paradigm shift. The question we should be asking is: Is this thing life-giving or not? That’s a Tree of Life question.

And the thing is, every answer from the Tree of Good and Evil yields bad fruit. If the thing is right and good, it fills us with pride. If the thing is wrong or evil, the answer fills us with shame. Either way, answers from the Tree of Good and Evil, either pride or shame, are bad fruit and not life-giving.

Please don’t hear what I‘m not saying.

I’m not saying good and evil don’t exist. Of course they do.

I’m not saying that good or evil, right or wrong, don’t matter. Of course they matter.

I’m not saying right and wrong is subjective. It’s not. Right and wrong is defined by God’s standard, not by our intellectual reasoning.

But we don’t avoid doing wrong things because they’re wrong. We avoid wrong things because they aren’t life-giving. They don’t serve us well.

We don’t pursue right things because they’re right. We do good things because they are life-giving.

The Kingdom’s criteria isn’t right or wrong. It’s life-giving or not.

There are a lot of good things we could pursue in any given season. When you think about the totality of possible actions, there are actually relatively few wrong choices we can make.

But many good things aren’t life-giving for you in this season. They may be life-giving for someone else. But that’s a different person in a different season. What is life-giving for you? Right now in your season?

Are you being guilted into doing a good thing that’s not life-giving?

Which tree does your question belong to? Are you doing it because it’s right and good? That’s great, we don’t want to do things that are bad and evil. But is it life-giving? For you? In this season? Is it serving you?

A Discernment Litmus Test

A litmus test I use is: “Do I feel pushed or pulled into doing this thing?”

If I feel pushed, if I’d feel guilty for not doing it, then it’s probably not God. If it’s pressure from other people, or even from within my performance-driven self, I would do well to say “no” to. Because it’s not life-giving.

But if I feel pulled toward it, drawn toward it, if I feel disappointed at the thought of not doing it, then it’s probably God. I would do well to say “yes” to that. Because it’s life-giving.

Discernment may look different for you. But for me, it’s often very helpful to pause a moment to notice whether I’m feeling pushed or pulled into doing a thing. And I hope that proves useful to you as well.

Your Turn

Does this resonate? Is this a paradigm shift for you? Does thinking of it as a Tree of Life or Tree of Good & Evil question reframe the discernment process? Tell us your thoughts in the comments. Janet and I would love to hear from you. And please share this post if it would bless someone else.