You should know by now that the name of this podcast is Bloom Kids Treehouse, and the logo for Bloom Kids has a big ol' tree on it. And a cute fox. The fox is just for fun. The tree, however, was chosen to be a symbol for our ministry.
A symbol is something, usually a picture, that stands for something else. So like McDonald's has the big golden arches, Batman has the Bat Signal, Disney has the big curisve D. You guys see them everywhere and don't even think about it. Well, we wanted a symbol for Bloom Kids, too.
The name Bloom Kids comes from our church, Bloom Baptist, and the church has that name because it's in Bloom township in Ohio. But I really like the word "bloom". It makes me think of flowers and spring time. Have you noticed flowers blooming? Our neighbors have been nice enough to let my kids come in their yards and pick some very beautiful tulips, hyacinths, and bluebells. Our apple tree is all covered in pretty white blossoms. Our lilac tree is getting ready to burst into delicious smelling purple flowers. I love when spring comes and everything blooms.
The Bible often talks about people like we're plants. Sometimes we're like seeds planted in the earth and waiting to see if we grow or if we're duds. Sometime's we're like branches on a vine and are only growing fruit if we stay connected. I mean, have you ever seen a tree branch cut off from a tree grow fruit? Yeah, me neither. And sometimes people are compared to trees.
In Jeremiah chapter 17, the prophet Jeremiah takes a few verses to talk about wisdom from the Lord. Most of the time, Jeremiah had to tell people that they were not listening to God and bad things were going to happen. And most of the time, people didn't believe him or told him to be quiet and go away. But Jeremiah was right. Bad things did happen to God's people because of their disobedience. So, I think we will be wise if we stop and consider his words.
This is what the LORD says:
“Cursed are those who put their trust in mere humans,
who rely on human strength
and turn their hearts away from the LORD.
6They are like stunted shrubs in the desert,
with no hope for the future.
They will live in the barren wilderness,
in an uninhabited salty land.
7“But blessed are those who trust in the LORD
and have made the LORD their hope and confidence.
8They are like trees planted along a riverbank,
with roots that reach deep into the water.
Such trees are not bothered by the heat
or worried by long months of drought.
Their leaves stay green,
and they never stop producing fruit.
9“The human heart is the most deceitful of all things,
and desperately wicked.
Who really knows how bad it is?
10But I, the LORD, search all hearts
and examine secret motives.
I give all people their due rewards,
according to what their actions deserve.”
So let's go back to the beginning of this section here, verse 5. Jeremiah tells us that people who trust completely on human strength and wisdom are cursed. It's not that God is in heaven blasting out curses and lightning strikes on anyone who doesn't listen to him. It's that there is always a consequence to our choices. Always. And if you choose to not obey God and instead do only what you, or your friends, think is right, the result is usually more trouble for yourself. It might seem to make sense to you to do whatever you want, or what makes you feel happy but if God has said that it's sin, then it will hurt you in the long run.
Jeremiah says those people are like stunted shrubs living in the wilderness. Some plants are meant to grow in the desert, like a cactus. But most plants, if they don't have good fresh water to drink up, then they don't grow very well. They stay small and shriveled up, and they eventually just die for lack of water. What do you think a person who is like a stunted shrub is like? Do you think they have a lot of joy and happiness? Do you think God uses them to do really exciting things? Do you think the fun that they do have leads to goodness, or do you think it leads to trouble? We'll ponder that for a minute as we look at the next set of verses.
In verse 7, we read that people who put their trust and confidence in Jesus are blessed. This doesn't mean that bad things never happen to Christians. Bad things happen to everyone. But if your hope and confidence is in Jesus you can still have peace and joy when bad things happen. You can trust that God isn't going to leave you on your own to figure life out. You can have confidence that God will help you, even when life is hard. Someone who doesn't trust in Jesus but only trusts themselves, doesn't have anwyhere to go when life is hard. If they can't figure out what to do or make themselves feel better, then that is it. That's the end of the story. But if you trust in Jesus, you're never on your own.
Jeremiah says that those people are like trees planted by a riverbank with roots that dig down deep in the water. A tree that has a good constant source of water can grow really healthy and strong. If a few weeks or months go by without rain, it's still okay. The roots go down deep where water can still be found, and the tree can stay alive. What do you think a person who is like a tree planted by the river is like? Do you think they have joy? Do you think they have wisdom and a good sense of what to do even when things are hard? Do they get to do exciting things for God?
Let's look at the last part where Jeremiah lays a solid truth-bomb on us. He writes, "the heart is deceitful of all things". To be deceitful means to lie or to trick. Human hearts left on their own are deceitful. They can trick us into doing things that feel good for a minute, but hurt us later on. Sometimes those things are small--like sneaking a cookie before dinner, but then you feel really guilty about it. And sometimes those things can be really big--like lying to your parents or doing things you know you're not allowed to because other kids are telling you to. And the result of that can be really painful. It's really important that we trust Jesus above anything else--even our own hearts!
But let's look at the next verse, "But I, the LORD, search all hearts and examine secret motives. I give all people their due rewards, according to what their actions deserve.”
There's actually several Bible verses that tell us that God examines our hearts. You know what an examination is. It's more than just looking. Think about when a doctor examines a patient. They're looking for signs that a person is healthy, or sick. And if a person is sick, they're looking to find out where and why. God is examining our hearts. He sees all the places where our hearts are sick, and where they're healthy and growing. And if we trust in Jesus, he helps our hearts to become healthier and stronger. Our hearts don't have to stay deceitful, sick hearts. Remember we talked about having beastly hearts last week and being made into new creations? As we trust Jesus more and more, and as our relationship with him grows and becomes more and more important to us, our hearts change. We still shouldn't just run off and follow it down some happy trail; we need to still be sure that our hearts are trusting Jesus. But if we have hearts that trust him, God sees that and he rewards us.
Does that reward happen right now? Well, no. Sorry for that bit of bad news. We're used to getting rewarded right away. You take a test, you get a good grade, there's your reward. With God, sometimes we have to wait a long time for the rewards because they're being stored up for us in heaven. And sometimes we have to wait to have God show us the reward. The reward might be sitting right there in front of your face--but you don't see it as a blessing yet. It helps if we pray and ask God to give us eyes to see his rewards and blessings. He doesn't actually give us new eyeballs, but it's like he gives us eyes inside our hearts to see like he does.
So, this brings me back to the beginning. Why did we pick a tree for the Bloom Kids symbol? Because we are praying all the time that you kids will grow up to be strong, healthy trees planted by the riverbank. We want you to be rooted in Jesus. We hope that you'll trust Jesus and put all your confidence in him, even when life is hard, and even when you're tempted to follow your heart down a different path. We want to have a whole forest of kids that have grown up strong in Jesus! Whenever you see the Bloom Kids tree, I want you to remember that people are praying for you, and that you can grow up to be a strong, mighty tree.
No comments:
Post a Comment