Proud of the Trees - New Life in the Spirit

“I’m so proud of the trees for growing leaves!”

Every spring my wife and I annoy our son by reminding him of this adorable quote that he made when he was a toddler. 

Yet we’re also proud of the trees, to be honest. And the grass. And the flowers. (Tulips!)

Indeed, the whole town blooms into life along with the trees. The sidewalks produce joggers and walkers. The soccer fields sprout players and families. The pickleball courts begin budding their pickleballers.

Winter has its own charm and its own fun, but there’s no denying that sometimes it feels like it can drag on too long. Here in Northwest Iowa, many of the large trees which line the streets so beautifully in the summer show signs of their great age in the winter. Planted by immigrants with the towns themselves, the great trees of the older parts of towns reveal some jagged scars when the leaves fall away. Missing branches and sharp edges mark a century and a half of rain, storms, sun and wind.

The prairie winds are tough on the old branches but have made the trunks wide and strong. 

Last summer, a powerful storm swept through the region and turned our towns into a woeful wasteland of downed trees and branches. Many businesses shut down the next day to let employees care for their homes and clean up the destruction. It took the entire community working together to put the towns back together.

Many trees still remain, however, and are now bursting into life and leaves. In addition, many new trees were planted and more continue to be planted, replacing the missing trees and giving hope for another century of life and beauty.

It’s not news to anyone to say that the Bible uses the imagery of trees and flowers to show us glimpses of life in the Spirit of God. The one “whose delight is in the law of the Lord” “is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season.” Jesus tells us that “a good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.”

We see when a plant is alive and thriving because we see the produce which springs from it. The dead tree does not blossom in the spring but stands in skeletal contrast to the living trees around it. So, too, we are known by the fruit that life in the Spirit produces. Famously, Galatians 5 gives us part of what this fruit should look like:

19 The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.

The fruit of the Spirit is a part of the evidence of the regeneration of our hearts and our new life in the Spirit. It is good and right to rejoice in the leaves of the trees, but even more in the fruit of the Spirit.

Trees give us not only a picture of an individual believer (as in Psalm 1) and the fruit and beauty that their new life in the Holy Spirit produces, but they also show us the collective life. A solitary tree is a beautiful thing, but many trees together foster habitats for mankind and animals alike. 

In the CRCNA specifically, but also in the broader world more generally, the Lord is building His church. We worry about the present, and we worry about the future, but God Almighty will maintain His church and give it life in the Spirit.

The happy/sad nature of this cycle of creation is that some trees fall, but new trees sprout up and begin their lives. The edges wax and wane, but the great forest continues on.

This time of CRC history has had storm and loss, but we pray for growth and fruit. We pray to the Father to give us life in the Holy Spirit, to unite us to Christ the Son, and to make us faithful, obedient, loving, and productive.

As the Apostle Paul prays:

14 For this reason I kneel before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. 16 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

(For a great explanation on the relationship of good works and salvation, I would ask you to read Article 24 of the Belgic Confession. Even better, comment below with one phrase from A24 which really jumped out to you.)