{Pictured is Jannie, 3rd from the right, with a group of ladies from her community group}
As our earthly bodies fade and diminish, his power and strength are perfected.
“But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” (2 Corinthians 12:9)
Weakness is power because in it our spiritual eyes are opened to see more of the sufficiency of God’s grace. His grace is more than enough for the increasing slowness of my outer body and mind as it weans itself from this world (which is shrinking) and opens the eyes of my heart to see the hope to which he has called me in Christ (Ephesians 1:18). What is the hope for this old body of flesh as it looks to the promises and provisions of my all-powerful God (Ephesians 1:19)?
“They still bear fruit in old age; they are ever full of sap and green, to declare that the LORD is upright; he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him.” (Psalm 92:14-15)
“So even to old age and gray hairs, O God, do not forsake me, until I proclaim your might to another generation, your power to all those to come.” (Psalm 71:18)
The hope and assured promise of God is a fruitfulness that grows all the sweeter because of the aging process. Mature trees bear the sweetest and most abundant fruit!
It was the fruit of the tree in Genesis 3 that opened the eyes of Adam and Eve to see their nakedness, and it delivered them to a temporal life of struggle against nature as well as their own sinful hearts and decaying bodies. There seemed to be no hope remaining for these two who had rejected God’s gracious care. But that wasn’t the end of the story.
“But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved” (Ephesians 2:4-5)
God’s eternal redemptive plan unfolds for Adam and Eve and for all the rest of us who believe through our Savior, Jesus Christ, and a fruit-bearing tree throughout all of history from Genesis to Revelation reveals it.
“And on the banks, on both sides of the river, there will grow all kinds of trees for food. Their leaves will not wither, nor their fruit fail, but they will bear fresh fruit every month, because the water for them flows from the sanctuary. Their fruit will be for food, and their leaves for healing.” (Ezekiel 47:12)
“Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.” (Revelation 22:1-2)
Let us call upon the name of the Lord to fulfill in us what he has promised. Not unending vigor of mind and body, but for grace to proclaim his might to another generation, his power to all those to come. We have tasted of the goodness and fruitfulness and trustworthiness of our Savior. We truly have sweet fruit to share, and it will never shrivel up or die because the sustaining source is water from the very throne of God! Your Word is true, God! Give us grace and faith to live it in our lives here in the shadowlands until we live it fully in our eternal home with you!
“So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.” (2 Corinthians 4:16-18)