Mensa Otabil - You May Freely Eat
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We are still in Genesis Chapter 2, and this is verse number 16: «And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, 'Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat.'» There is so much to enjoy in God’s garden. When God blesses you, He wants you to enjoy the blessing; He wants you to have the fullness of the blessing. The Bible doesn’t tell us how large Eden was; I will assume that it covered a vast area full of all kinds of fruit-bearing trees. Just going by the number of trees I know of, there must have been a lot to eat. If we assume that there were probably a thousand trees, I’m sure there were far more than that. A thousand trees would take years just to sample the fruit of every tree.
So, if Adam decided, «I’m going to enjoy the fruits of Eden,» and each day he ate from just one tree and moved to the next one, that would take him a long time to enjoy everything. God wanted Adam and his wife to explore all the abundance He had for them, and He didn’t want them to focus only on one tree. He didn’t want their lives to consist of, «All I want to eat is mango, mango, mango, or orange, orange, orange.» He wanted them to enjoy the fullness of what He had for them.
It’s very possible for God to give you abundance while you focus only on one area to enjoy. But there’s so much to experience, and we see that in our Christian lives today. We give our lives to Christ; we become born again, and God makes so much available to us. He gives us many spiritual promises and resources. He gives us His Word, the name of Jesus, the blood of Jesus, the power of the Holy Spirit, our inheritance in Christ, and so much more. Yet, many of us never explore all of these things. For some people, they fixate on one area of their Christian life and that’s all they want to enjoy.
For some, they want someone to always tell them what God is saying, and they never spend time enjoying the Eden that God has blessed them with. It’s like owning a hundred pairs of shoes but wearing only one every day. Every day, you wear the same shoe, although you have a hundred. It’s like having a sophisticated phone that can do so much but only calling one person on one line with that phone. You don’t install any apps, you don’t expand its usage, and you don’t enjoy it. That’s how some of us live our Christian lives. God has blessed us with so much; He says you can freely enjoy My goodness, but we are limiting what He wants us to have.
So today, the Lord is telling us what He told Adam: «You can freely enjoy all that I have for you.» The death of Jesus Christ purchased so much for us; salvation is one of those things, but that is not all that there is. The Holy Spirit can do a lot for us; speaking in tongues could be one of those things, but that is not everything. The promises of God promise us life, but that is not all there is. There are so many promises of God, so spend time and enjoy all that God has for you.
It is the same with every area of your life; don’t just get up in the morning, go to work, come home, sleep, and repeat. Enjoy life a little more! Don’t be married and just say «hi, hi, hi,» while never spending time to enjoy your marriage. Enjoy every blessing that God has given you. He says to Adam, «Freely enjoy all that I have made available to you.» The Scripture says, «Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things that God has prepared for those who love Him.» May God help us to enjoy all of His fullness.
Let’s pray. Say with me: «Heavenly Father, thank You for all the things that You have freely given me, and help me to enjoy them. In Jesus' name, amen.» My friend, enjoy God’s fullness. And Pastor Mensa Otabil, shalom, peace, and life to you.