Robert Ewing

 

What message does the powerful voice from the depths of the vast ocean convey to us?

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Anything is valuable to us, from God's point of view to the extent that we know Him through it. The tremendous waves that the vast green beryl cast across the coast spell one-word "plenitude," the fullness of God.

 

God is complete and lacks nothing, except his Church, which is us, the fullness of his life. We see the olive tree growing on the coast. Are we not called "trees of righteousness"? So, the tree is a miniature of the fullness of God. As the olive tree experiences the fullness of life of the moisture around it, it grows. In the same way as trees of God, we can grow only to the extent that we have His fullness within our own lives. We say to David, "I am like a green olive in the house of God." Psalm 52:8.

 

The living tree of our life must be: "...rooted and founded in love, that you may well understand with all the saints, what is the breadth and length, and depth and height, and know the love of Christ, which surpasses all knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God" Ephesians 3:17-19.

 

The roots give depth to the tree. Which, about us, speaks of who we are or our existence.

 

The structure of the trunk and branches provide width to the tree. It deals with what we do in life or our expansion into multiform activity for Christ.

 

Those rich green leaves of life are designed not only to remove carbon from the air but also to receive oxygen and heavenly aromas, which in turn are imparted into the tree to give it its height. Which refers to what we receive or have from God, who gives us stature and exaltation, since it surpasses the nearby bushes in its growth and height.

 

The fruit, in this case, the olive, represents the length or longevity of life given to the tree to perpetuate it through its seed. This speaks of what it is that we give to God and others since it deals with the expressions of life, which are like seeds to perpetuate the life of Christ within others and are like the fruit of the olive, which, when being crushed, becomes a blessing for the benefit of others, as the Spirit of Christ within us flows like balm to heal their wounds and give them life.

 

The nine fruits of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22-23 reflect the multiform way in which the life of Christ is imparted through our life experiences to others.