The Christmas tree hunt was always a fun childhood memory. When Danny and I married I tended to gravitate towards trees that were, well too big! Admittedly we would argue a bit about which tree to get as the one I wanted was always too tall! Finally we started using artificial trees and did so for years. Last year we started looking at living trees. Tree hunting memories are so much fun, no matter where you go to get one.
With a live tree, you must fill the container daily. If it were a fake tree, there’d be no need for the life keeping water. But without filling the tree on a regular basis, the needles would begin to turn brown and fall. It would become brittle and unappealing. Its life is connected to the filling, otherwise it’s sure to die.
The Christian life is much like a living Christmas tree. We are alive in Christ and set apart as a display of His glory and grace. We’ve been infused with the life giving water of the Holy Spirit. But this life in Christ is a daily renewal. Unless we allow ourselves to be filled daily, we’ll be just like that Christmas tree whose branches become brittle. Our countenance and our strength will begin to fall, just like the needles on an un-watered tree. For us to live fully alive, we must drink of the fountain of living water and we can because God says that His life giving flow never runs dry. As we allow the Lord to wash us with the water of the Word, we thrive. We stay green and soft and pliable. We are beautiful because He fills us daily and keeps us fresh for His glory.
Danny filled the trees container yesterday and he was shocked that the gallon of water he put on the day before was gone. That’s why he keeps a water bottle right behind the tree, a reminder to refill it daily so it remains beautiful. We too keep the Word handy, right there on our bedside tables or our morning coffee spot, so that we can quickly pick up a refill.
Maybe you found your walk with the Lord a little dry lately. The urgency to refill has waned but you thought things were going pretty good. You may not have noticed right away, but there’s a nagging feeling that something’s not right. The excitement, the thrill, the love seems to be gone. You’re been busy preparing for Christmas, but forgotten Christ. It happens. We find the pursuit of life to be very engaging and busy. Then one day we discover we have gotten brittle and perhaps a little grumpy and short tempered. We check and see that it’s been days since we’ve taken in the Word.
True to God’s Word, as soon as we refill our reservoir with His fountain of love, we return to our supple, beautiful, Christ-filled temperament. Yet we tend to let it go dry before we refill.
Oh beloved, drink deeply of God’s Word. Let it lavish the nourishment that you must have as a believer. Watch as His life giving flow helps rid you of the brittleness of life. Yes, there can be hard times when you may be feeling quite dry, but God’s promise is that you can be like a tree that flourishes by streams of living water. You won’t have to bend under the load of care, because the more you are filled with Christ the less room there is for the cares of the world. Family and friends cannot fill your heart with what you really need. Things and pursuits of happiness won’t nourish your heart. God knows you’ve been through a lot. You may feel that you were cut down in your prime and drug through the woods of sorrow, rejection, troubles and cares. But He’s setting you up as a beautiful display of His magnificent love. Let Him replace the things that are loading you down and watch as you feel renewed under His watchful care. The fruit and the gifts of the Holy Spirit will flow as well, just as the tree is decorated with ornaments.
Don’t load yourself down with the things that don’t matter, but let yourself be filled with the only thing that really matters in your life. God loves you and He’s for you and that is worth refilling every single day of the year.
John 5:26 The Father has life in Himself, and he has granted that same life-giving power to His Son.
John 7:38 “He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.’”
Jeremiah 2:13 For my people have done two evil things: They have abandoned Me— the fountain of living water. And they have dug for themselves cracked cisterns that can hold no water at all!
Job 23:12 I have not departed from the command of His lips; I have treasured the words of His mouth more than my necessary food.
Jeremiah 17:8 For he will be like a tree planted by the water, That extends its roots by a stream And will not fear when the heat comes; But its leaves will be green, And it will not be anxious in a year of drought Nor cease to yield fruit.
John 15:4 Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me.
