Celebrating Oak Trees

If I labeled someone as a mature Christian, what would come to your mind? What about something like this:

• Warm affections. In other words he is bubbling over with emotion for the Lord.
• Burdened with sin and doing anything he can to get rid of it.
• His heart is often enlarged in prayer.
• He is zealous with a love for souls and a concern for the glory of God.
• His knowledge of the things of the Lord is small, but the little he does know never fails to stir him up.

The picture I have in my mind is of a sprinter. He’s going fast and he’s putting every ounce of his being into this thing. There is no pacing himself. For many this is the view of a mature Christian. Passion. Emotion. Liveliness. Activity.

John Newton describes such a one as a tree in blossom. “It is spring-time with [this one]: he is in bloom, and, by the grace and blessing of the heavenly Husandman, will bear fruit in old age.” But he’s not yet a tree that is “laden with ripe fruit”.

I was once a sprinter in my walk with Christ. When I first became a believer everything changed in my life. One particular area that I knew had to change was my choice of music. Being lively in my affections and very sensitive to sin I believed that my only recourse was to burn all of my CD’s. 2Pac, Rage Against the Machine, Led Zeppelin, Ozzy, Biggie, the whole lot of them went up in flames.

I acquired more than just a collection of charred CD’s with this burn fest. I grew in my stature as a mature Christian—at least in my own mind. I was now able to look down upon all those pagans who listened to secular music. Their affection for Jesus must not have been as deep as mine. The Lord was working so powerfully in my life I couldn’t understand all those dour people in our congregation that weren’t as passionate about the Lord as me.

And then the wilderness came.

I was rocked because my lively affections started to dwindle. I began to wonder if I was even a believer. I know now that my understanding was growing and my faith in the Lord was growing in leaps and bounds. But at the time I assumed that I was well on my way to becoming a passionless pew potato. I even felt as if the Lord had abandoned me by withdrawing such strong affections from my heart.

As I read through Newton’s grace in the blade, in the ear, and in the full corn, I was struck by how much of our Christianity strives to be like the beautiful tree in blossom. And this I believe thwarts actual growth. We wither in the wilderness and long again for the security of our days in Egypt. Yet, the Lord aims to bring us into the Promised Land. As Newton says,

The Lord is now about to suit his dispensations to humble and to prove him, and to show him what is in his heart, that he may do him good at the latter end, and that all the glory may redound to his own free grace.

For years I’ve attended various prayer meetings in which we are praying for revival. In reality I think we are often praying that God would make us immature believers again. We’ve exalted the emotion of our child-like walk with Christ to an unhealthy place. Yes, we ought to have our affections stirred. Yes, we ought to be passionate about the Lord. But a mature believer is more akin to a solid tree, filled with twists and turns and faithfully bears fruit in spite of how it has been weathered by all the changing seasons.

When the hearts of others shake like the leaves of a tree, he is fixed, trusting in the Lord, who he believes can and will make good every loss, sweeten every bitter, and appoint all things to work together for his advantage.

Wouldn’t it be better for us to celebrate oak trees as much as we celebrate spring blossoms?