Full of Sap and Very Green

The righteous man will flourish like the palm tree; he will grow like a cedar in Lebanon. Planted in the house of the Lord, they will flourish in the courts of our God. They will still yield fruit in old age; they shall be full of sap and very green, to declare that the Lord is upright; He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him. – Psalm 92:12-15

Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. – 2 Corinthians 4:16

I hope and pray that you are doing well. We are all truly walking through life together in the Lord, by the Spirit. It’s an incredible thing to have as our Source, the same Father, the same living, risen, and exalted Christ, and the same Holy Spirit. “…Every family [in Christ] in heaven and on earth derives its name”1 from the same Source!

I’ve been reflecting on the past 20 years of walking with our Lord. In September, it will be 21 years, and that represents half of my life apart from the Lord and half of my life with the Lord. I’m eternally grateful. As you know so well, there is nothing and no one like Him!

When I read the opening verses in Psalm 92, I stopped. I read them over and over again. I began to thank God for His promises to our children (and their children) and to us. I pray this blesses and encourages you on in our journey together with our loving Lord.

A few signs of maturity as we walk with Him are spiritual fruitfulness, purity, and moral conformity to our Lord. Another is an undying zeal, “that I may know Him.” As we behold Him, walk with Him, and talk with Him through the seemingly mundane, ever so slowly, “not all at once,”2 we are being changed.

We’ve all seen the miraculous transformation of our children, or of others’ children. At first, they are so tiny and helpless. That vital lifeline, the umbilical cord, is severed at birth. But the need for nourishment remains a mother’s beautiful and loving duty. But what has happened at birth? He can breathe on his own; a mother’s anguish becomes sheer joy at the sound of that first cry! All other bodily functions begin with the introduction of air into his lungs. Having witnessed this, there are no words to describe how amazing this is!

“And the Lord God…breathed into his nostrils the breath of life…” – Genesis 2:7

As time passes, he begins to move through different milestones which mark growth and development. He follows mom and dad with his eyes. With every child Christina and I have had, I’ve exclaimed, “Look at him/her looking at me!” It’s a milestone. Many other milestones mark their growth and development. Their full trust and confidence is in mom and dad. But there’s one mark of their growth that is inescapable because it is in their DNA: He/she bears the image of their mother and father. Looks aside, this is an incredible thing.

How much more incredible it is as they become a new creation in Christ! They put their trust in the living Lord Jesus, and are transformed into His image! “Planted in the house of the Lord, they will flourish in the courts of our God.

Oh, yes, Lord! “It is for this we labor and strive, because we have set our hope on the living God…”3

It is no longer bearing the image of mom and dad, but because of their spiritual DNA, bearing the image of the risen Christ. First the mortal, then the immortal. The first man Adam, and then the Last Adam. First the earthly, and then the heavenly.

I believe our Lord looks with delight as His children walk with Him in confidence. “Look, he’s looking to Us! He’s following Us! He’s bearing Our image!”

“Behold, I and the children whom God has given Me.” – Hebrews 2:13

“He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will disclose Myself to him…we will come to him and make Our abode with him.” – John 14:21, 23

So, the fight isn’t against age or time and its effects on our bodies: “the outer man is decaying.” That is the truth of God’s Word, and something we know by experience, especially after age 30 or 35. The fight is to remain seated with Christ in the heavenlies amid many of life’s troubles and the temptation of the enemy to draw back.

“Yet our inner man is being renewed day by day.” It is day by day, moment by moment, that we are empowered by the grace of God, by the Spirit. Growing older in years and in maturity with our Lord is a blessing: “They will still yield fruit in old age; they shall be full of sap and very green…”

What an honor it is to manifest the fragrance of Christ, be His city set on a hill, the salt of the earth, the light of the world, and stars amid the night sky in an otherwise dark world! That all might see Christ in us and through us; our God and King!

Walking with you. Much love,

Eric

“I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.” – John 15:5