Psalm 1:3-4
I love the way Jesus taught spiritual principles using metaphors: ‘The Kingdom of God is like …’ is a familiar opening to many of His parables. The Psalmist also used that literary device as he continued teaching on how to walk in God’s blessings.
He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers. The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away. Psalm 1:3-4
The tree metaphor is a word-picture used to describe the family who walks the line by paying attention to influences in their lives: righteous or unrighteous. This family knows what to stand for and where to sit on the issues by using God’s Word to form their opinions and perspectives. When we’re successful God says we’re like fruit trees that grow strong and healthy yielding a good, seasonal crop.
I know a little something about trees because I’ve grown some and killed some. Eventually my husband and I learned to grow healthy trees by watching their leaves. We found there are two culprits that constantly try to invade our trees: disease and pests. As long as we planted our trees in good soil, assured of plenty of sun, carefully watered it, slowly and deeply, and guarded against pests we knew our tree would grow healthy over time.
When your family is like the trees of Psalm 1 we’re told the watering system is perfectly balanced since it’s planted by a fresh water supply. Question: What’s your family’s spiritual water supply?
Whoever believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’ Now this He said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. John 7:38-39 ESV
That’s the perfect water supply for the spiritual trees in your house: the Holy Spirit. He’ll make sure your leaves won’t wither due to dehydration, disease, or pests and your fruit will luxuriously grow. What kind of fruit? Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self control: Gal. 5: 22. If you’re not observing a good crop of spiritual fruit at your house maybe it’s time to do a fruit check. What influences your family, what do you stand for, whose perspectives do you align with: the world’s or Word’s?
The end result for this family is prosperity, not limited to finances but more importantly to a life that represents Jesus well. He taught us that people recognize a healthy tree by the good fruit (Matt. 7:16-20) and a diseased tree by bad fruit. Pretty simple.
The contrast of the unbeliever to the believer’s family should be obvious: more scrumptious, seasonal fruit. What season are you experiencing, young children, teenagers, empty nest, grandparenthood? The Holy Spirit helps in every season.
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