Day 3 – The Rooted And Fruitful Life

“A good tree produces good fruit, and a bad tree produces bad fruit. A good tree can’t produce bad fruit, and a bad tree can’t produce good fruit…. Yes, just as you can identify a tree by its fruit, so you can identify people by their actions.” (Matthew 7:17-18, 20, NLT)

“Don’t be misled—you cannot mock the justice of God. You will always harvest what you plant. Those who live only to satisfy their own sinful nature will harvest decay and death from that sinful nature. But those who live to please the Spirit will harvest everlasting life from the Spirit. So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up.” (Galatians 6:7-9, NLT)

At the very start of the book of Psalms, the psalmist compares people to trees, painting a beautiful picture of a person planted, unwithered, and bearing fruit each season:

How happy is the one who does not

walk in the advice of the wicked

or stand in the pathway with sinners

or sit in the company of mockers!

Instead, his delight is in the LORD’s instruction,

and he meditates on it day and night.

He is like a tree planted beside flowing streams

that bears its fruit in its season,

and its leaf does not wither.

Whatever he does prospers.

The wicked are not like this;

instead, they are like chaff that the wind blows away.

Psalm 1:1-4, CSB

My wife, Kaye, and I drove the beautiful seventeen-mile Pebble Beach drive several summers ago and stopped in front of the famous Lone Cypress tree. We were not the only ones. A guy was painting a picture of the tree. A woman with a professional camera was taking photos. A couple offered to take our picture, and we returned the favor. There was a guy proposing to his girlfriend.

You know where people don’t get engaged? Next to the Lone Chaff. People don’t drive hundreds of miles to see chaff. Chaff is the shell surrounding a seed. When you finish a bowl of popcorn, the pieces that are still in the bowl or between your teeth are chaff. You are not Instagramming chaff.

Most believe the Lone Cypress is more than two hundred fifty years old. Hundreds of storms have passed over it, and it still stands.

The psalmist says we can be like the tree that is planted, bears fruit, and does not wither—which is what all leaders want. We want to stand strong, endure the storms, and bear fruit for the people we serve and lead. It is what all those we lead want from us too.

In our homes, we want our families to be blessed by the fruit of our character. In our work, we want the organizations we lead to enjoy the fruit of our unwavering character and our skillful competence. We want our leadership to inspire and develop others, and we want those we lead to be healthier and more effective because of us. In our churches, we want the fruit of our ministries to be changed lives. In our communities, we want our neighbors to enjoy the fruit of our presence. This is what it means to be like a good tree.

But the psalmist knows what we know, that not everyone is like a rooted and fruitful tree. Some are blown away by the wind. The psalmist has seen leaders topple too.