Grow: Becoming More Like Jesusনমুনা

TREES and STREAMS Trees are awesome. Next to God and humans, trees are mentioned in the Bible more than any other living thing. In Bible poetry, trees rejoice, dance, and clap their hands to worship God. Trees are a great metaphor for followers of Jesus. If they are deeply rooted and have access to water, trees will flourish, they will bear fruit, they will be healthy, and they will grow. That's true for us, too. If we have deep roots (meaning we spend time with God, learning to know and love him more each day) and if we have access to "water" (meaning we are feeding our life of faith with the right things, like the Bible, prayer, worship, time with other Christians, serving), we will be healthy and will produce the kind of fruit you read about yesterday. Some people think "doing good things" is the same as "producing good fruit." But that's not necessarily true. If "doing good things" is a result of loving God and wanting to follow him, that's great. But "if doing good things" is a way of trying to earn God's love, that's not great. And it's not the way God works. We don't need to earn his love. He offers it freely. During the stormy spring season, the trees in my backyard sway wildly. Dead branches fly off. The trunks bend over until I'm sure they'll break off. Leaves fly through the air in spinning swirls. But the healthy trees don't fall over . They survive because their roots are deep, because they have access to fresh water, and because they soak up the sun's rays each day. I know these trees are healthy, even if it's not a season when they bear fruit, because they survive the bad storms. They flourish, even through difficulty and pain. Jesus makes that possible for us, too. TO THINK ABOUT As a follower of Jesus, how are you like (or not like) a tree planted by streams of water? As a follower of Jesus, what are the "streams of water" that feed you? What things can help you grow deep roots of faith?