Is there life after birth?

Do you believe in life after death? Most of us do. Do you believe in life after birth? What a strange question! Most of us would answer yes. But before we do, we had better give this question more thought. There are millions of people who are born into this world, who breathe God's air, who walk and talk and work and play, who use up God's resources, and who are experts on how to live the good life.

Many of these people, however, are not alive! Too many people, unfortunately, just go through the motions and merely exist. What makes a person truly alive after their birth?

Jesus came and lived life to the fullest. He said: "I am life. Anyone who believes what I've said and patterns their life on mine, will be alive!"

Conversely, he said, "Anyone who does not believe me, obey me and imitate me is one of the walking dead, merely existing among the living."

Imagine that we are standing underneath a large oak tree. The branches form a green canopy over our heads. Beneath our feet, the roots run deep into the earth. What makes this tree alive? God, the source of life, gives energy and life to the tree.

Life-giving energy flows up through the roots, up the trunk, and out into the branches and leaves. As long as the roots are grounded in the source, the whole tree is alive!

Jesus Christ is the "tree of life." His roots run deep in eternity, grounded in the source of life. Jesus Christ was with God in the beginning. He is God's word, responsible for creating all things. He put life together according to his father's master plan. Who knows more about life, and how it should be lived, than the one who designed it?

Because he stayed connected to the source, Jesus lived the perfect life, always doing what God asked him to do. He became visible in Bethlehem. Branches and leaves appeared as people became attached to Jesus. Evil sought to destroy the tree. Evil cut him down and buried him. But God re-energized the tree with new life; and now the tree lives forever!

Christians believe that Jesus is life itself. And as long as we are attached to Jesus, we too have life. When we become detached from the "tree of life," we die, we merely exist. A leaf or branch cut off from the tree, falls to the ground and dies because it is no longer connected to the source of its life.

During this Lenten season, let's choose life. Our time on this earth is too short to waste by merely existing, going through the motions. Let us remain firmly attached to Jesus Christ as whatever the cost. Let's learn from him how to really live life to the fullest.

Dr. Don Kuehle of Jackson is a retired United Methodist minister.