Amazing!

One of the trees in our yard I brought home in a coffee can.  A young man was selling seedlings at the red light, and I bought one for $1.99.  Mr. Bill laughed at the $1.99 twig and was pretty certain it wouldn’t amount to much.  Today, however, it is about 30 ft high and soon will burst forth in brilliant yellow leaves.  Amazing!

The foundational truths of salvation are rich and eternal yet there is more to our faith.  Christians must grow to producing some serious fruit!  The writer of Hebrews tells us our faith is to be productive.  He was “confident of better things concerning you, yes, things that accompany salvation.” (Hebrews 6:9)  It is Christ Who frees us to focus on bearing fruit and great are the rewards.   “For God is not unjust to forget your work and labor of love which you have shown toward His name, in that you  have ministered to the saints, and do minister.” (Hebrews 6:10)  God forgets and needs to remember?  No, of course, not: nothing ever “occurs” to God!  Here, “forget” and “remember” are action words: “to act on what is remembered.”  When Israel turned back to God after disobedience, the Bible notes “God remembered His covenant” (Leviticus 26:42, 45)  God didn’t forget His covenant, rather he “acted on what He remembered” – to keep the promises made earlier to His people. In the same way, God forgets to remember our sins and not punish us like we deserve (Psalm 25:7, Isaiah 43:25) Thus, when God acts on what He remembers, we receive the fruit of His covenant promises – mercy, grace, love, forgiveness.  God’s promises to us are indeed fruitful, and a rich inheritance of our faith.  Mr. Bill and I often sit in the porch swing and admire “our” little coffee-can tree, but it’s not the trunk or the roots or the strong branches we admire: it’s the beautiful leaves and the sweet shade it casts.  God’s salvation is rich and [even alone] worthy of every ounce of praise, but the fruits of His salvation to us and through us are evident. This evidence is rooted in God’s nature as He rewards “those who diligently seek Him” (Hebrews 11:6).  Amazing!