Submitted by “Mike”
Jeremiah 17:7-8
Once there were three trees on a hill in the woods.
They were discussing their hopes and dreams when the first tree said, “Someday I hope to be a treasure chest.
I could be filled with gold, silver and precious gems.
I could be decorated with incredible carving and everyone would see the beauty.”
Then the second tree said, “Someday I will be a mighty ship. I will take kings and queens across the waters and sail to the corners of the world.
Everyone will feel safe in me because of the strength of my hull.”
Finally the third tree said, “I want to grow to be the tallest and straightest tree in the forest. People will see me on top of the hill and look up to my branches, and think of the heavens and God and how close to them I am reaching.
I will be the greatest tree of all time and people will always remember me.”
After years of praying that their dreams would come true, a group of woodsmen came upon the trees.
One of them came to the first tree he said, “This looks like a strong tree, I think I should be able to sell the wood to a carpenter” … and he began cutting it down.
The tree was happy, because he knew that the carpenter would make him into a treasure chest.
At the second tree a woodsman said, “This looks like a strong tree, I should be able to sell it to the shipyard.” The second tree was happy because he knew he was on his way to becoming a mighty ship.
When the woodsmen came upon the third tree, the tree was frightened because he knew that if they cut him down his dreams would not come true. One of the woodsmen said, “I don’t need anything special from my tree so I’ll take this one”, and he cut it down.”
When the first tree arrived at the carpenters, he was made into a feed box for animals.
He was then placed in a barn and filled with hay. This was not at all what he had prayed for.
The second tree was cut and made into a small fishing boat.
His dreams of being a mighty ship and carrying kings had come to an end.
The third tree was cut into large pieces and left alone in the dark.
Years went by, and the trees forgot about their dreams. Then one day, a man and woman came to the barn.
The woman gave birth and they placed the baby in the hay in the feed box that was made from the first tree.
The man wished that he could have made a crib for the baby, but this manger would have to do. The tree could feel the importance of this event and knew that it had held the greatest treasure of all time.
Years later, a group of men got in the fishing boat made from the second tree.
One of them was tired and went to sleep.
While they were out on the water, a great storm arose and the tree didn’t think it was strong enough to keep the men safe.
The men woke the sleeping man, and he stood and said “Peace” and the storm stopped.
At this time, the tree knew that it had carried the King of Kings in its boat.
Finally, someone came and got the third tree.
It was carried through the streets as the people mocked the man who was carrying it.
When they came to a stop, the man was nailed to the tree and raised in the air to die at the top of a hill.
When Sunday came, the tree came to realize that it was strong enough to stand at the top of the hill and be as close to God as was possible, because God’s only begotten son, Jesus, had been crucified on it.
Here is a video of this story…. a lesson follows after the video…
The Lesson….
Ask yourself a question.
Sort of a strange question.
What if you were a tree?
How would you describe yourself?
How would others describe you?
What would be your character?
If you were a tree, It would be important to have roots and then to grow.
Eph 3:17 That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,
Eph 3:18 May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height;
Eph 3:19 And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.
When you first become a Christian is so important to read God’s word and through his word learn what he desires from each of us.
So many times I have heard, “I feel… I think…I believe” and it doesn’t have a think to do with what God’s word says.
So many times we base our beliefs on what the world says or base our beliefs on our emotions and don’t even bother to see what God says.
The Bible says that God is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. God does not change.
So we must make sure we have a solid foundation upon God’s word and then we must grow daily.
Paul talks about a baby surviving on milk. He says that you don’t start feeding a baby on meat, it would not survive.
But as time goes by the baby grows and so must his hunger.
We as Christians start out on the milk of God’s word, then we must grow into the meat.
The problem is that many times we have people that have been Christians for 10, 20, 30, even 50 years and they are still on the milk.
To me that looks as odd as a 40 year old man sucking on a baby bottle. We must take solid roots and grow in God’s word.
If you were a tree you wouldn’t be afraid to go “out on a limb” for something you believe in.
Luke 9:23 And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.
If you know the truth, and you study God’s word just like we talked about a minute ago, then you wouldn’t fell weak and inadequate to defend God’s word.
How many times have you had a chance to witness to someone but back down or look the other way?
MORE QUESTIONS
Why do you do that?
Do you not know what to say?
If you truly believe what you confess, which Jesus is Lord, then you would not be ashamed to share it with others.
God didn’t say being a witness for Christ would be easy, he just said it would be worth it.
If being a follower of Christ is in your heart, your words and lives will show it. Sometimes we just have to take a chance and go for it.
Remember God calls you and God empowers you.
Sometimes you just have to take a chance, go out on a limb and be that witness because
In all honesty, someone’s eternal destination depends on it
If you were a tree, you would have to shed your old bark in order to grow.
2 Co 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
The Bible teaches that when a person is saved, they then have God residing in them. Our bodies then become a temple of God.
If we are truly saved and have God now living in us, there must come a change.
I’m not talking about a sudden change, but I am talking about a change.
For me the first thing that changed was my language. I used to use a lot of not so nice adjectives-if you know what I mean. After being saved I was aware of what I was saying and more aware of what others we’re saying around me.
Another change was the desire to be in the house of God and be with my brothers and sisters in Christ. I really have to question a person that says they are saved, yet has no desire to fellowship with God’s people. I know there are some that can’t because of illness or work or something, but I’m talking about the ones that have the choice and refuse not to.
Change in our lives is constantly taking place. Our desire for God’s word must increase, our prayer life must increase.
We are aware of worldly things and place our values on God’s word and not Hollywood’s.
What TV shows we watch changes, what music we listen to changes (talk about my music change)
Once what we thought was “fun” is now not. There is so much change that happens and continues to happen I just don’t have time to discuss it all, but the bottom line is, there MUST be a change.
If you were a tree, it would be perfectly okay to be a late bloomer. (It doesn’t matter when you come to Jesus or what age you are)
If you were a tree, you would want to avoid people who would like to cut you down. (Concentrate on building one another up!) Talk about gossip and back stabbing (back biting) talk about being around people that drag you down
If you were a tree, you wouldn’t be able to hide your true colors.
