Trees of Righteousness part 1
I want to pick up on our memory verse from yesterday. "To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified" (Isaiah 61:3). To me this is such good news. The essence of the Gospel (which means good news). What God has done... and what it means for us. HE gave us beauty for our ashes. HE turned our mourning into dancing. HE did all of the heavy lifting. So that WE could enjoy the fruit of HIS labor. The planting of the Lord. When Jesus was lifted up from the earth He drew all men into Himself. And planted Himself in all men. That was the planting. He planted His incorruptible seed in us. And when that seed grows... it grows into the tree of righetousness. The Tree of Life. The tree that bears the fruit of the Spirit (which is love). And, to be clear, Jesus is the vine. We are the branches that the fruit hangs on. We are the vessels that make the fruit (of the Spirit, which is love) availabe to those around us. We are the spout where the glory comes out, if I can say it that way. God has filled us up with Himself... and what's inside is what comes out! And here's the best part--we don't have to force it out. It comes out naturally. Whatever you believe is inside WILL come out. It has to. It's too big not to. So that puts the emphasis on God to give us the best things going. When Jesus gave the New Commandment (for the New Man) He told us to love one another AS HE LOVES US. The emphasis is on HIS love for us. If He wants us to love big big... he must first love us big big. Whatever we receive from Him is what we can relesae into the world. That's how trees work--whatever the farmer (or Gardener) plants is what will grow. Jesus is the Gardener. The sower of the seed. Once again, that incorruptible seed. The seed that remains. The seed that brings forth good fruit. We don't have to produce it, because HE is producing it in us. All we have to do is rest. Receive it and release it. Let God love us, so we know what it means to love Him back by loving each other. All we have to do is understand that He has already filled us with His love. When we understand that, we can fill ourselves to overflowing with what we've already been filled with. We can let what's inside come out by knowing and believing that it's in there. And now, before I run out of room and time, I want to talk about righteousness. Righteousness, in a nutshell, is right standing with God. It is what the Father proclaimed over the Son when Jesus was baptized in the river Jordan. Luke 3:21-22, "Now when all the people were baptized, it came to pass, that Jesus also being baptized, and praying, the heaven was opeend, And the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him, and a voice came from heaven, which said, Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased." That affirmation from Father to Son is what equips and empowers us to go forth and do all of the things we were created to do. To bear that fruit in the way that only we can bear it. For me, it's mostly in my writing. That's a big part of who I am. For you, it may be singing. Or dancing. Teaching. Whatever it is that when you do it you feel like... you. And I'm telling you, when you find that thing... do it! Do it as hard as you can as much as you can. Because that's your innermost being. That's the true you. That's what you were created to do and that's who you were created to be. You are a tree of righteousness, planted to bring glory to your Father. The trick, the secret of life, is finding out what that means for you!