I was all ready to pull a Christmas Memo from the archives, but I had an insight this morning when I wrote and posted my daily devotional that I want to share with you. It has to do with the concept of the "tree of life," the reference of which is found in the books of Genesis and Revelation, the first and last books of the Bible:
"The Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground—trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil" - Genesis 2:9
“Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city" - Revelation 22:14.
Adam and Eve were permitted to eat of the tree of life, which would seem to refer to eternal life. When they ate of the forbidden tree, they lost the right to the tree of life until Christ came to restore what was lost. So far, so good.
What I saw this morning is that the phrase 'tree of life' is used at other times in the Old Testament. Specifically, we have four verses in Proverbs that talk about the tree of life:
"She [wisdom] is a tree of life to those who take hold of her; those who hold her fast will be blessed" - (Proverbs 3:18).
"The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and the one who is wise saves lives" - Proverbs 11:30.
"Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life" - Proverbs 13:12.
"The soothing tongue is a tree of life, but a perverse tongue crushes the spirit" - Proverbs 15:4.
What I saw is that the tree of life is more than eternal life or living forever; it's a quality of life that we can enjoy right here, right now, and you and I can help create that tree of life. How can we do this?
We can do this by obtaining and applying God's wisdom to our lives. We can bear fruit in our lives that impacts other people, both to find the Lord and to improve their daily lives. We can set goals to see longings fulfilled and hope no longer deferred. And finally, we can speak encouraging, soothing and uplifting words that bring life and hope to ourselves and others.
Jesus came, was born and lived among us, to restore what was lost by the Fall. He came to pave the way to the tree of life so you and I can eat freely of it. But what a tremendous privilege to share in His work, to lead others to that same tree through our lives and witness. I want to commit my remaining years to eating from the tree, and do what I can do to nourish others from it as well.
If you want to see the Memo I was going to post, you can view it here. But I hope you will use these last days of 2013 to determine how you will partake more fully of the fruit from the tree of life and help others do the same. As you consider this, I wish you a Merry Christmas from my house to yours!
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