Word of Life
by Ivan Ho 11 May 2022
The word of life is in the word of God. When God said to Adam: “Eat this, don’t eat that..”, God gave Adam and Eve the word of life. The do and don’t are both the word of life. “Of every tree in the garden you may freely eat, BUT if you eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, you will surely die”.
The word of death came from the mouth of the devil who tempted Eve to disobey God by eating from the tree that was forbidden by God. Eve was led by her soulish desires and was led astray. Not only that, she led her husband to death as well by preaching to him a false gospel.
Eve was deceived because she followed the advice from the deceiver. Adam wasn’t deceived because Eve didn’t set out to deceive her husband. The woman genuinely believed that she was offering something positive and good to the man. By rejecting God’s commands, both Adam and Eve disobeyed God. Disobedience is simply disobeying the word of God that is delivered to you.
There is hope because Christ comes to deliver us from our sins by dying on the cross. By the Disobedience of one man, Adam, many died. By the Obedience of one man, Christ, many shall live. “Life and death is in the power of the tongue” depending on who you listen to and whose word you follow.
We tend to think that false gospels would come from the ones who are evil 😈 with horns in their heads. In reality, they come from people who genuinely believe they are servants of God delivering to you words from God, but words that have been tempered with by the devil. When we accept certain words from the Bible but cut out others we don’t like, we will become agents of the devil.
Word of life is not about saying positive things. Many people are dying because they hear from positive motivational speakers who deliver messages that contain some aspects of truth mixed with some aspects of falsehoods. They gather around themselves teachers who give them what they want to hear, messages that make them feel good.
If we drink from contaminated water, we become contaminated. On the other hand, if we drink from pure water, our input is pure but our output depends on how we receive it. We can contaminate pure water when our minds are not set right. The same word of truth that is sown can produce different results to different individuals depending on how they receive and apply it. In the same church, or organisation, not everyone who listen to the same word will bear fruits. The parable of the sower tells us that only one in four conditions will bear good fruits even though they all receive the same word of truth, because of their heart conditions. Some never understand the word and reject it the moment it is delivered. Not even those who say “Amen” will be guaranteed to bear fruits. They welcome the word, but they do not allow it to take root and work in their own lives. When persecutions come, they immediately stumble. Others receive the word but they allow the cares of the world and deception of riches to choke the word and make them unfruitful. Only those who receive the word of life and allow it to abide and shape their life will bear much fruit.