{"id":867,"date":"2021-04-30T09:40:39","date_gmt":"2021-04-29T21:40:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sonbeamsandshadows.com\/?p=867"},"modified":"2021-04-30T09:40:39","modified_gmt":"2021-04-29T21:40:39","slug":"tree-beautiful-trees-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sonbeamsandshadows.com\/index.php\/2021\/04\/30\/tree-beautiful-trees-part-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Tree Beautiful Trees, Part 2"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I haven\u2019t been able to get my mind off trees and what we can learn from them in God\u2019s Word. I love trees and the fact that I have a tree, at the moment, in beautiful shades of orange outside my kitchen window \u2013 I am constantly thinking of trees. The below verse is still in my mind while studying trees. I would like to further expound upon the fact that trees grow and produce fruit or flowers in their own time.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">Psalm 1:3 <em>\u201cAnd he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, <u>that bringeth forth his fruit in his season;<\/u> his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.\u201d<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p>This should be an encouragement to all of us to keep going for the Lord and the fruit we bear is what the Lord had for us in our life. If one is obeying the Lord and sees one soul saved in one\u2019s life, then that is the fruit God had for you.<\/p>\n<p>Take for example some of the following trees:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>An English oak tree starts producing acorns at around 40 years old and peaks in productivity around 80-120 years.<\/li>\n<li>Magnolia trees take between 10-20 years before blooming.<\/li>\n<li>Dogwood trees can be 5-7 years before flowering.<\/li>\n<li>Fruit trees vary. Pawpaw and Sweet Cherry trees can take 4-7 years. Pear, Plum, and Sour Cherry trees can take 3-5 years. Other fruit trees may take 2-4 years.<\/li>\n<li>A Walnut or Pecan tree can be 10-15 years before it produces walnuts if planted from a seed.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h4><strong>1. Spiritual Growth of the Christian<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p>Notice, none of the trees produce fruit as a sapling tree. Not to say that a person who gets saved can\u2019t go out and spread the Gospel and see souls saved immediately. That can happen. But, let\u2019s focus on newborn Christians who need some time to grow.<\/p>\n<p>Just like a young sapling needs much sunshine, room, and time to grow; a baby Christian needs encouragement and time to grow in the knowledge of God\u2019s Word. Tall, mature trees in a forest can sometimes crowd out a sapling on the forest floor. Some saplings in the forest don\u2019t make it to maturity because they don\u2019t get the sunshine and room for growth that they need. Mature Christians mean well, but sometimes they can smoother a young Christian by trying to pour their years of Bible knowledge and wisdom into them in a brief time. A young Christian needs time to read, ponder and learn what is taught, read, and preached from God\u2019s Word.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">II Peter 3:18 <em>\u201cBut grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ\u2026\u201d<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Just like our trees mentioned above, some take years to produce fruit. If a farmer plants a Cherry Tree and a Walnut tree at the same time and the Cherry tree produces cherries within 4 years, the farmer wouldn\u2019t pull out the Walnut tree since it wasn\u2019t producing walnuts in 4 years. The farmer would be patient, cultivate the soil, fertilize the tree, water the tree because the farmer would know that in due time, the Walnut tree will produce its walnuts.<\/p>\n<p>Baby Christians are the same as our tree mentioned above. I\u2019ve seen some people over the years get saved and almost immediately they are quickly growing in God\u2019s knowledge and producing fruit. Some I\u2019ve seen have been a bit slower. They are all still God\u2019s children, some are just a bit slower in producing their fruit. What can mature Christians do in the meantime?<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Wait<\/li>\n<li>Be patient<\/li>\n<li>Encourage<\/li>\n<li>Fertilize or help, but don\u2019t over fertilize, give God time to work in their lives<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>In time, baby Christians will mature and produce fruit in God&#8217;s timing.<\/p>\n<h4><strong>2. The Tree of Life<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p>During my study of trees, I found it interesting that so many places in the Bible reference the <em>\u201ctree of life.\u201d<\/em> We know that the ultimate <em>\u201ctree of life\u201d<\/em> is in heaven for God\u2019s children to enjoy someday.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">Revelation 22:2 <em>\u201cIn the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life\u2026\u201d<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p>But, did you know, there are many things we as Christians can gain here on Earth that God calls the <em>\u201ctree of life\u201d? <\/em>Here are some of those things we can gain now while we live our lives for the Lord.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><u>Godly wisdom<\/u>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">Proverbs 3:18 <em>\u201cShe is a <u>tree of life<\/u> to them that lay hold upon her: and happy is every one that retaineth her.\u201d<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><u>A wholesome tongue<\/u>. Wholesome means kindly, pleasing, peaceful, virtuous, healthy, with morals, and happiness.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">Proverbs 15:4 <em>\u201cA wholesome tongue is a <u>tree of life<\/u>: <\/em><em>but perverseness therein is a breach in the spirit.\u201d<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><u>Soul winning<\/u>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">Proverbs 11:30 <em>\u201cThe fruit of the righteous is a <u>tree of life<\/u>; and he that winneth souls is wise.\u201d<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p>So, while we are persevering each day for the Lord, instead of focusing on the growth of others; let us focus on our own spiritual growth. How are you doing in the areas of Godly Wisdom, a Wholesome Tongue, and Soul Winning?<\/p>\n<p>Notice all three of the things above have to do with our conversation? If I grow in these areas, someone may ask, \u201cJust how does it help me?\u201d It helps with our holiness before God.<\/p>\n<p>Some people ignore the verse below about being holy. They think holiness isn\u2019t attainable, but we can keep growing and striving to be as holy as we can each day of our lives.<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">I Peter 1:15-16 <em>\u201cBut as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.\u201d<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p>So, in conclusion:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Let\u2019s have patience with others in their spiritual growth.<\/li>\n<li>Let\u2019s keep working on our own spiritual growth to improve our holiness before our Lord and Saviour.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I haven\u2019t been able to get my mind off trees and what we can learn from them in God\u2019s Word. I love trees and the &hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":845,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[3],"tags":[295,298,163,296,297,91,279,280],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonbeamsandshadows.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/867"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonbeamsandshadows.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonbeamsandshadows.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonbeamsandshadows.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonbeamsandshadows.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=867"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sonbeamsandshadows.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/867\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":868,"href":"https:\/\/sonbeamsandshadows.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/867\/revisions\/868"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonbeamsandshadows.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/845"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonbeamsandshadows.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=867"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonbeamsandshadows.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=867"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonbeamsandshadows.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=867"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}