Spring is always rewarding because there’s such a fullness to find. There is a lushness; a deep green glory that brings a mighty filling of the gaps and holes that winter leaves. But the irony is that the fullness that comes with spring and takes us through the summer can’t come until what was old falls away so that new room can be made for life. I was reminded of that today when I saw the pecan tree in the church parking lot. The leaves looked a bit weak, like the life that is in them is being spent in their last push of preparation for bringing forth pecans. The summer has zapped them good, and all their energy is focused on their fruit. But things will fall away in a couple months, and it will be ok. In fact, it is only right, so that all the goodness that comes in its leaves and eventually its fruit will come to pass.
A beautiful pecan tree in the church parking lot.
“That, however, is not the way of life you learned when you heard about Christ and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.” —Ephesians 4.21-24 NIV
In order for the Ephesian Christians to truly grow in their faith, they needed to focus on the truth that comes from God—the source and continuation of their success. If they kept holding on to the old things in their lives, the new things God has for them won’t come about. They’ll be stunted or worse blocked from coming at all. The old life, the old habits, the old culture, the old thinking—they must go. There’s a new life, new habits, new culture, new thinking that comes with the fullness that God brings.
In order for there to be room for new growth, for the goodness that is to come, that which is no longer good must die away. There is a loss that always leads to a gain when God is involved. God does that in our lives in different ways. He makes room for something amazing by getting rid of something that has lost the amazement we once put on it. What we thought was great needs to go, so that what God has deemed truly great can come.