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If you live up north, like I do, you develop a real love for evergreen trees, because in the midst of winter when everything else is bare and brown, that evergreen tree is still tall and green, giving color and life to the otherwise bleak winter scene. Jeremiah liked evergreens too. And he made a beautiful analogy for us using the evergreens. It’s found in Jeremiah 17:7-8:
“But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him. They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.”
Evergreen Christians are Christians who walk worthy of the Lord. One whose roots are so firmly entrenched in the Lord, that nothing turns your leaves brown or keeps you from bearing fruit. It’s learning to trust God so completely that whatever heat comes your way, you will have absolutely no fear! To come to the place where no amount of heat could turn your leaves dry, because your faith in God is rooted so deeply.
Of course, a tree like this doesn’t grow overnight. It takes time to get those roots down deep into that water supply. If you’re ever going to be an evergreen Christian, it will take time and discipline to get your roots firmly entrenched in God’s water supply.
Are you in a situation that seems rather dry or cold or barren? Perhaps you’re facing some unknowns on your job or even in your family. As you go through this experience, you have two choices: To worry and fear, and thereby shrivel up and get dry and brown. Or to trust God and push your roots deeper and deeper into that spring of living water, Jesus Christ. The only thing that makes sense is to trust God.
To walk worthy of the Lord, we need to be evergreen Christians, don’t we? People who bear fruit and stay green regardless of the circumstances. You can do it if your roots are firmly entrenched in Jesus Christ, deeper every day.
