but most specifically a tree
Psalms 1 even starts out its praise declaration talking about a man
being compared to one--
Psalms 1:1-3
"Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked
or stand in the way that sinners take
or sit in the company of mockers,
2 but whose delight is in the law of the Lord,
and who meditates on his law day and night.
3 That person is like a tree planted by streams of water,
which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither—whatever they do prospers."
The bible even references Joseph who we know is the one that was Jacob's favorite son, calling him such a tree described in the 3rd verse of Psalm 1.
But this is what I want to really go home with.
The tree is an incredible picture of not just one particular man, but it's a picture of what God has designed for us to look like now that we are in Christ.
If you look at a tree is has many benefits to offer. -
it bears fruit.
it produces shade.
It provides clean oxygen for us to breathe.
It's a home for woodland creatures.
it can even serve as a way to find your self back home when you're lost.
I've thought about how it operates and God has been dealing with me about a specific topic as of late.
That topic is submission.
The thing about submission is that the word and concept get a really bad wrap.
Especially if your the type of person that has dealt with religion in your life.
You hate anything and any form of anything that looks like, sounds like, or carries itself intentionally to be 'religious'.
Gods been dealing with me about this because I've been one of those type of people that has not dealt with religion, but married it in my past life.
But what I want to show you is how submission+commitment=a fruitful tree; and I want to do so by paralleling the picture of a tree and the concept of the truth of the word of God.
When talking about submission and the Gospel, they both go hand in hand.
In fact, the very reason why someone would give their life away to God in devotion to Him is the ultimate act of submission in it of itself.
Everything that has to do with coming to God, initially deals with you laying yourself, your thoughts and your aspirations so that God can show you how to live your life.
We can't even pray and ask in faith apart from humbling ourselves before God.
1 Peter 5:6-7 "Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you."
Hebrews 11:6 "And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him."
James 1:5-8 "If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do."
These are just a few but the point I'm making is that the bible literally teaches us how to come before God word for word.
It leaves out nothing so that we can have full confidence in knowing that God will do what He said that He's gonna do.
The amazing thing is, this act of submission produces something within us.
And that's commitment.
Think about it.
The more that you spend time with someone, the more that you not only start to talk like them, but the more that in your relationship with them, you develop an allegiance or a bond with them, right?
We call it friendship, and most people have close friends and associates.
The close friends always get the phone call when you're having a bad day or when you are in dire need of something.
The associates don't.
The the act of submission is seen in your close relationships too, as it is with God.
When you let them borrow money for something but you tell them that you're not looking for it back in return, you're submitting your will to theirs so that they can go through what ever it is that they were going through that would cause them to ask you for help.
Asking for help is submission in it of itself but so is reaching out to help someone.
It even goes deeper than that; sometimes you have to do things that you really don't want to do AT ALL but you submit to your friends request
Why?
Because you love them and you care about their feelings.
Friends this is what submission looks like in real time - we call it commitment.
We see our inward submission expressed outwardly in our commitment to the people that we love.
And in the same way, our devotion to God is also shown to the people around us.
We don't have to run around telling people that we're submitted to God because they should be able to see it in us by our commitments to Him.
It may look like this but isn't exclusive to-
going to your local church,
ministering to people that are in need of the Love of God through the Gospel Message,
taking care of the physical needs of people,
even encouraging someone in the faith to keep moving forward.
These are just a few, but God really challenged me with this question
"Where does your commitments lie?"
It was a difficult question for me because I felt humbled already that He would ask me that unless i was in need of some pruning.
But it was a hard-hitting question, because so often do we commit to things just so that someone else can see our production, but inwardly, we aren't really submitting to anything out of a right heart under humility.
If there's one thing that I've had to continually swallow when it comes to my walk with God, its learning how i die so that another person can live.
I've had to die to my dreams of being a basketball star so that the real person of Marcus could live for God; up until that point I was only existing.
I've had to die to old relationships so that they could see Jesus rather than my indifference to God and how they lived their lives.
It's tough talk but it's true.
The thing about the bible is that Jesus gives us the opportunity to die to ourselves only to find our answers and true clarity in Him.
Luke 9:23-25 "Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it. What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self?"
So the question in submission is what are you willing to sacrifice so that God may show you what life looks like?
What are you willing to risk so that the Life of God may be manifested in you?
Or are you satisfied by living your life by lying to yourself and attempting to convince yourself that you're really happy...
I've heard it said like this, 'character is best seen in a man when he is alone.'
Alone.
When no one else is around, how do you think about people?
How you think about yourself?
I'm not gonna lie I've failed this test from hating myself inwardly, to watching porn and not telling anybody about it.
And God says that until I would submit myself to Him, I would never be free.
The freedom comes when the Spirit of God takes root in your life and starts to make the equal sign in our equation mentioned at the beginning.
A fruitful tree.
That's the end result of staying connected to the vine that is in Christ Jesus - living a laid down faith-filled life that is shown in your fruitful character that water manufactured by the Spirit of God.
Galatians 5:22-23 "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law."
So lets go back to the tree again.
The amazing thing about a tree is that the only life it has is the life that God designed for it.
IT'S TOTALLY SUBMITTED TO ITS PURPOSE.
I've never seen a tree talk or drive a car or chase down animals for food.
It's purpose is fulfilled just by being planted.
God takes care of the rest!
And that's where we need to be - PLANTED
So that God can take care of the rest!
Tree's don't bear fruit on it's own, God gave it DNA to do so.
Tree's don't plant themselves, but God designed for it to shed seeds so that many more trees can be planted all around it as well as other parts of the world.
But no tree can do this process alone.
It needs the wind to have it's seed carried.
It needs water to drink so that is can grow and it needs sunlight so that it can reproduce itself.
The Tree has such an infinite concept to me now because I see myself in it now.
If I stay submitted in the purpose and plan that God has for me, I can be committed to my sphere of influence that he has designed for me to have, and in due season, as long as I stay connected to what he told me to stay connected to, the fruit has to come!
And if He can feed the tree, the fox and the birds - how much more will He fulfill my needs?
If you stay submitted, your commitment will encourage the people around you and at the same time, God will develop things in you that you couldn't even imagine.
You can't bear fruit alone, and you can't succeed in this life apart from the knowledge of God.
And I challenge you, that maybe you've struggled with submission and commitment issues in the past like I have with positions of authority -
Lay them down at the alter and submit your life to God.
Maybe you've been a person that has given your heart to God but you've taken it back and ignored His call to come back - friends I want to tell you that it is a BEAUTIFUL surrender to give your life to God.
It's not burdensome or laborious, but rather blessed.
Don't just take my word for it, I challenge you to stop making up your ideas of what God should be, and submit to His word and let Him develop in you a new man that has life and life more abundantly.
Make refuge in Him and grow to be all that He has called you to be.
Marcus C. Hollinger
Psalms 34:8 "Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him."
