Steps in cultivating a tree

 

Let us look at the basic steps that are required in cultivating a tree.

1.      The first step in cultivating a tree whether good or evil is to prepare the soil for the planting of the seed.

The crux of the matter is, the soil has been prepared for the planting of the new seed as it is written; “Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them” (Ezekiel 36:25-27).

According to the terms of the New Covenant which Jesus Christ instituted on the night of His death and became effective after His death the soil has already been prepared, for thus states the terms of the New Covenant; “For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.

None of them shall teach his neighbor, and none his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord,' for all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them. For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more." In that He says, "A new covenant," He has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away” (Hebrews 8:10-13).

Now contrary to what many people have been taught and believe with regards to the laws of God, the rationale for having the laws placed in our mind it is for us to keep them in remembrance and having them written on our hearts it is for us to love them.

2. The second step in cultivating a tree is to sow the seed

The good seed has been sowed, for it is written; “Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart, having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever, because "All flesh [the other tree, the physical life] is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of the grass. The grass withers and its flower falls away, but the word of the Lord endures forever"(1Peter 1:23).

This incorruptible seed was planted according to; “God’s abundant mercy Who has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for us, who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this we greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, we have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of our faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ, whom having not seen we love. Though now we do not see Him, yet believing, we rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, receiving the end of our faith --- the salvation of our souls” (1Peter 1:3-5).

Because of this incorruptible seed which is now planted in us, it is required of us that we put off, concerning our former conduct, the old man (the bad tree our sinful nature) which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of our mind, and that we put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness” (Ephesians 4: 22-24).

Now to put on the new man it is to put on the nature of Jesus Christ which is one of righteousness and holiness and there is an ordained formula by which this status can be attained and maintained.

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To be continued

With brotherly love

Lucius Joseph