Psalm 1
1 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.
What makes an oak tree into a great oak? Survey says, “700 years.” For an oak tree to reach maturity, it takes 40 years. But what determines when the oak tree is mature? When it begins to produce its fruit (acorns).
For true believers, what brings about maturity in Christ? Psalm 1 states that delighting and meditating on God’s Word and not walking in the path of the sinners are essentials to becoming mature in Christ. But notice, the tree is not in total isolation, it is planted by streams of water which is also the essential source of nourishment. How can you determine when true believers reach maturity? The answer to that question is when there is evidence of fruit in their lives. The more abundant the fruit, the more evidence of maturity.
A tree needs to have an established strong root system to reach maturity and bear fruit. The roots are hidden below the ground, but just because you can’t see them doesn’t mean they are not essential for the growth of the tree. The roots draw the water from underground to bring the nutrients needed to keep the tree healthy.
In Jesus’ parable about the Sower of seeds found in Matthew 13: 5-6, He says,
5 “Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. 6 But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root.“
Why in this passage were the plants scorched? Most likely, these plants were not by streams of water. See what Jesus tells a Samaritan woman about getting a spring of water welling up to eternal life.
John 4:7-30:
Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” 8 (For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.) 9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) 10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” 11 The woman said to him, “Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.” 13 Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again.[b] The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” 15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.”
The Samaritan woman was focused on convenience, on the physical aspect of not having to come to the well every day to fetch water, but Jesus’ focus is on the heart. It has always been on the heart. He is offering an invitation to satisfy the very longing of your soul – not only for a moment, but for every second of your life for all eternity.
Some Christian circles will say, “That guy has been baptized or he made a decision in Sunday School at the age of six so it really doesn’t matter that he is currently living a life of total debauchery. He has his ticket to heaven.” That whole mindset is totally warped. As true believers, are we not responsible to bring a person who has strayed from the faith back to God, to try to reason with them instead of allowing them to continue on the path of self-absorbance? I just cringe when other Christians assume that all there is to Christianity is a golden ticket to heaven. Jesus is offering so much more. He is offering His very presence at every moment of the day for eternity. When an immature Christian walks away from their faith because it was an inconvenience to their lifestyle, that is a slap in the face of the Almighty God. The grace of God was accepted by the immature Christian at one point in time, then later this same amazing grace was rejected, or, more adequately, this amazing grace was trampled upon. To be clear, I am not talking about living the perfect life because we all sin, but I am talking about chucking your whole faith out the window and living the life the way you want to live it – in total disregard of God’s plan for your life.
So how do you keep that from happening? You stay close to the source of life – to the streams of living water. The One True God calls us – invites us – to know Him in a deep, deep way. A way that will satisfy what your heart craves for. Stay by Him and the mess of this world starts to just fade away as you move along the road to maturity. The road to knowing the One True God.
Discussions to make God known 