Thanksgiving is nearly here, and it would seem the cold weather has finally decided to move in, at least here in Tennessee. Just the other day, I was standing outside watching a large tree as it was raining its leaves down on the ground. It wasn’t particularly windy, and I was just standing there, watching, as the colorless leaves broke away from the tree that once gave them life. Initially, I was just standing there enjoying the autumn scenery, but as I watched what must have been 100 leaves fall from this tree in a very short amount of time, the image began to take on a new meaning. Suddenly, instead of leaves falling away from a tree, I started to see “believers” falling away from God. People disconnecting from their life source and were now simply falling to the ground. I knew that the thought didn’t come from me, because that just isn’t really the way that my mind typically works, but nonetheless, here I was staring at a tree and thinking about how so many people were falling away from their Lord and Savior.
Honestly, when I started to think about the metaphor and image that I had just been shown, I hated it and didn’t want to accept it or do anything with it. I mean these leaves that were falling had no chance to be reattached to the tree. So what was God trying to tell me? Was He seriously saying that once you fall away you can’t come back? That isn’t how I have always understood the Bible and it certainly hasn’t been how my story has played out. But just the same, the image was stuck in my head and I couldn’t get it out. I was actually at work sitting at my desk trying to make sense of it when suddenly God revealed it to me. He wasn’t pointing to the leaves that were falling. He was pointing to the source that they were falling from. The tree that I was looking at, which I’m pretty sure was an Oak, only supplies life to the leaves for a season. Once the weather turns cold the tree stops producing chlorophyll and the leaves return to their natural state of red, brown or yellow and die falling to the ground. The tree can’t sustain the leaves through the fall and winter since the tree needs to reserve its resources to keep itself alive. However, if you look at an evergreen such as a Blue Spruce (yes, I just googled names of evergreen trees), the tree never sheds all of its needles. The needles are actually designed in specific ways that allow them to survive in harsh winters without drying out. I know there is somebody out there thinking to themselves, “but even pine needles fall.” Yes, they do. You are correct, but we are focusing on the tree not the leaves. So, if you look at an Oak in the winter, you will see a bare tree, but if you look at an evergreen at any time of year, it is always full of needles.
It isn’t enough to say that you believe in God. It isn’t enough to say that you love Jesus. You can’t just say that you are a Christian. Repeating a prayer at church doesn’t mean a thing if your life isn’t changed. So, you need to ask yourself what is your life source; what are you clinging to? Are you clinging to the clever sayings that people like to post online? Are you putting your faith and hope into the words and lessons of you pastor? Do you rely on worship music, verse-a-day calendars, or maybe even a blog to provide you with life? If so, the day is coming when the seasons will change. The “chlorophyll” that is keeping you alive will cease to exist, and you will fall helplessly back to the ground. However, if you are clinging to Jesus and looking to the Bible to find your life blood then you can be assured that you have found an everlasting life source. A life source that never changes regardless of the season, that never holds back to protect itself and never forces you from its branches.
We live in a harsh environment that will quickly dry up your faith if you aren’t, by design, protected by your savior. Lies, half-truths and false doctrine are running amuck in this world and they are so easy to cling to but then you are left to the mercy of wherever the wind takes you. Much like the leaves that are swept away by the wind, you are lost with no real direction. You don’t have any real truth since the truth is whatever the world wants to give you at that moment. You move here and there with a blissful ignorance, just happy to be with the other leaves much like the leaves that seem to happily dance down the street when they are caught in the breeze. However, if we are in the Bible, we can recognize the lie, pick-up on the half-truths, and denounce the false doctrine, because we have seen the truth. We recognize that we aren’t leaves anymore we have been transformed into a pine needle, which is always being sustained, always attached to its life source, and designed to survive the harshest cold and strongest winds.
The Bible contains the word of God and since we recognize that God is never changing then we must also recognize that everything in the Bible is still relevant today. If it isn’t in the Bible, it isn’t real doctrine. It is a pretty simple rule actually. It’s not about what I believe, what makes me happy, what is easy, what helps me fit in, what my friends think, what the world wants, or how I feel. If that is what you base your life on, then you, my friend, are a leaf and you need to let God transform you into a pine needle. It has always been and will always be about what God said, nothing less; nothing more. That may seem restrictive to you, but what it does is it gives me a real truth and a real base to live by. Human emotion is a crazy and unstable thing. We can be happy one minute and balled up in a corner crying our eyes out the next, but God is always the same, so, at least if I follow His path, I know where I am going. Maybe it seems egotistical that I say my God is always right and I have the right life source and you don’t. It isn’t ego that drives me to speak the truth; it is love. However, I would ask you what takes more ego: a person saying it is all about me and my feelings or a person saying I submit to the will of God and I will do what He calls me to do?
As Christians who know the truth, we have to be willing to call out the lie, to shine our light to the world and rebuke false doctrine. We have to be willing to show all the leaves what it is like to be a pine needle. We won’t be able to transform them, we can’t reattach them to the tree, but we can bring them to Our Eternal God and let Him do the rest.
So, as is customary at this time of year, we all look at our lives and reflect on what we are thankful for: maybe your kids, your spouse, your job, a promotion. I’m not sure what it is for you, but me, I’m thankful that I’m a pine needle and that God is my evergreen.
“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” John 15:5
