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“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” (2 Corinthians 5:17)

Outside my office window stands a White Oak tree. Over the years I have noticed this tree tends to hang on to its dead leaves nearly all winter, only dropping them to make way for the new leaves in the spring. All winter long the leaves simply hang there, dry and shriveled, nearly rotting in place for months on end while the tree is dormant. Even a strong wind is not enough to cause the tree to release its grip on these dead leaves. What keeps these leaves hanging on the branches? Why won’t the tree drop these unsightly straphangers?

More importantly, why are we so much like the White Oak, holding on to our old selves, lusting after the desires of our flesh, knowing that God has much more beautiful things in store for our lives just waiting for the trigger of a new season? 

Our Lord said, “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.” (John 15:1-4)  

If we fail to remain in God’s word we are like the dead leaves hanging on to the branches of the White Oak. We become dry, shriveled, and barely hanging on to the branch. Isaiah calls us “like one who is unclean, and all of our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like wind our sins sweep us away.” (Isaiah 64:6)

However, as the new season approaches, the tree finally purges itself of the dead leaves. Soon after the tree begins to bud new life as new leaves begin to creep forth from the branches. The tree appears restored, refreshed, and renewed. In a sense, the tree appears reborn. We too must be born again, as Peter tells us, “not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. For, ‘all men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord stands forever.’ ” (1 Peter 1:23-24)

Therefore, just as the White Oak outside my office window sheds its dead leaves in the spring and returns to its glorious green shade, then we Christians must “put off [our] old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of [our] minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.” (Ephesians 4:22-24) Say “Goodbye” to the old; the new must come!

God bless you and thanks for visiting.

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