The Tree of Life OR?

Imagine you’re invited to your 20-year high school reunion. At first, you’re excited—there’s a flood of memories and old friendships—but soon, anxiety creeps in. What will they think of me? Have I aged well? Am I successful enough? Insecurity returns with a vengeance. Suddenly, you’re 17 again, worried about acne, your weight, or being excluded. The fear of being judged can paralyze us. It can keep us from showing up. It can keep us from growing.

Now contrast that with a night spent laughing with close friends—sharing pizza after finals, goofing off during game night, or relaxing at a prayer group. There’s no fear. No pressure. You’re known, accepted, and loved. It’s a space of freedom, joy, and ease. That’s real life.

In the Bible, we see glimpses of this kind of life. Jesus eating fish on the shore with His disciples after the resurrection. Jesus with Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. Or even better, Adam and Eve walking with God in the Garden of Eden—perfect peace, perfect freedom, and perfect relationship. No fear of judgment, only connection and joy.

Life Before the Fall

Eden wasn’t just beautiful—it was ideal. God created it as a place for Adam and Eve to live in perfect harmony with each other, with nature, and most importantly, with Him. They had meaningful work: tending the garden, naming the animals. They had purpose, creativity, and freedom—true freedom born from trusting their Creator.

But there was one rule: do not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The warning was clear: if you eat from it, you will die.

We often think of that tree as the tree of evil—but it wasn’t. It was the tree of the knowledge of both good and evil. And it was tempting. The serpent, Satan, twisted God’s words, raising suspicion and planting doubt: “Is God really looking out for you? Isn’t He holding something back?”

And so, Adam and Eve chose disobedience. They chose independence over intimacy. And with that choice came a cascade of consequences: shame, pain, division, anxiety, toil—and ultimately, death. The relationship that had defined and sustained their lives was fractured.

But there was another tree in the garden—one we often forget: the Tree of Life. They had full access to it before the fall. But once sin entered the picture, God protected them from it. In an act of mercy, He placed angels to guard the tree. Why? So humanity wouldn’t live forever in a broken, sinful state.

Even in judgment, God acted in love.

Life Under the Law

From Adam and Eve onward, humanity inherited a mindset rooted in that first disobedient choice. We began to view life through a binary lens: good vs. evil, right vs. wrong, success vs. failure, us vs. them.

We created laws to define and enforce morality. God Himself gave the Law to Israel, not as a punishment, but as a guide—a way to shape His people and protect them. Yet even this was a temporary solution, meant to point to something deeper. As Jesus said, the Law was given because of the hardness of our hearts.

But law-based living has its dangers. It can turn us into moral gatekeepers, more eager to judge others than examine ourselves. It keeps us living in fear—fear of doing the wrong thing, fear of punishment, fear of judgment. It’s like living in constant anxiety before that high school reunion, always worried: am I good enough?

Jesus: Life Under a Different Tree

Jesus didn’t live under the shadow of that first tree. He lived under the Tree of Life. His every move was rooted in intimate relationship with the Father. He wasn’t constrained by performance-based religion. He healed on the Sabbath. He defended sinners. He spoke truth that offended legalists. And He was utterly secure because He knew who He was and whose He was.

He showed us that true life isn’t about following rules perfectly—it’s about walking closely with God.

His actions were radical. He didn’t throw a stone at the woman caught in adultery. He dined with tax collectors and prostitutes. He overturned tables in the temple because relationship mattered more than ritual. Love mattered more than appearances.

Jesus lived and loved from a different place—one of grace, not guilt. One of connection, not condemnation.

A Renewed Mind

The Apostle Paul picks up this vision of life in his letters. In Romans 12, he urges believers to be transformed by the renewing of their minds—not to conform to the binary, fear-based systems of this world, but to live from the Spirit.

In Galatians 5, Paul describes the tension between the flesh and the Spirit. The works of the flesh are all too familiar: division, jealousy, immorality, selfishness. But the fruit of the Spirit is what life under the Tree of Life looks like: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

Against such things, there is no law.

These aren’t things we manufacture—they’re the result of abiding in Christ, walking in the Spirit, and living in a restored relationship with the Father.

Two Trees. Two Ways of Life.

We’re all born under the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. That’s the default. And we’re all affected by the curse that came with it—sin, shame, judgment, death.

But Jesus died on another tree—on a cross—to offer us something different. To restore what was lost. To make the Tree of Life available to us once again.

At the end of the Bible, in Revelation 22, the Tree of Life reappears. It stands by the river flowing from the throne of God in the New Jerusalem. Its leaves are for the healing of the nations. It is the symbol of redemption, restoration, and eternal life.

Jesus made it possible for us to live under that tree again.

So what does it all come down to?

Choose Life.

Moses said it to Israel: “I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live” (Deuteronomy 30:19).

Jesus invites us to do the same. Choose relationship. Choose reliance. Choose freedom rooted in love.

Not judgment. Not fear. Not hiding. But trust, joy, gratitude, and peace.

Choose life.