02/22/2026
TREE OF LIFE
The tree of life (good and evil) planted in the middle of the Garden of Eden (Gen 2: 9) was not a physical tree, but a symbol of the limits that should never be crossed in our lives as Christians. God gave us freedom, but as humans, we were never to claim the right to decide what is good and evil because only God is capable of doing that. We human beings by nature, are fallible and are not able to choose properly and whenever we try to do so, we cause destruction upon ourselves. Unfortunately, we always try to break away at many instances. The snake (Gen 3:1) represents man's temptation to break away, to be independent and to do what we like. The truth is that, there is no such thing as doing what we like because there are limits (tree of life) that must be observed.
In the gospel of Matthew 4: 1-11, we notice that even Jesus, our master, had a human side and was tempted. But again, we notice that he resisted the temptation. Picture Jesus in the desert weary, vulnerable and struggling for footing, but He was not overwhelmed and that is a source of encouragement for us. As human beings we face the tree of life everyday but we should not be overwhelmed. We face the temptations to live with the notion that worldly pleasures, food, drinks and our emotions are all there is to pursue in life. We are tempted on a daily basis to take God for granted and play into the devil's hand by presuming that God will take care of us. We worship or conform ourselves to the political or religious establishments of our day, without minding the harm we do to others in the process.
Temptations in life are real but then, we are reminded that God surely gives us enough grace to resist them, especially if we are consciously making efforts to do so; for "where sin has abounded, grace has abounded all the more" (Romans. 5:15).
Do you recognize your tree of life? Are you making any effort to resist the snake that stares at you in the desert of your life? In the Christian tradition, we say that when we go astray as human beings, there comes a time we need to return. This lenten season we are called upon to resist the temptation to please our appetite and our emotions and when fall, to return to God.
People who do not resist temptations or who yield in at will without effort are by that very fact claiming that they have the freedom to decide what is right or wrong for themselves, irrespective of what God, the Society or the Church dictates. Thatβs call reckless living.