Give to God
The property that my house sits on is devoid of trees. I like trees - they look nice and give shade which is real nice in a hot place like the South. However, I like for things to have as much function as possible so, when I decided to plant a tree, I decided to plant a fruit tree. This past weekend I planted an apple tree. It is my second attempt at growing apple trees. I planted a couple of them two years ago but they both died.
Some months ago while driving to church one Sunday morning I was telling my children about the Law of the Old Testament and some of the things that the Israelites were required to do under the Law that we are not bound by thanks to the perfect sacrifice of Christ. I was, at that time in my morning devotionals, reading from the book of Leviticus and so had some of the requirements of the Law fresh on my mind and one of the examples I used for my children involved the planting of fruit trees. God instructed the Israelites that when they came into the land He promised them that whenever they planted any fruit trees that for a certain number of years the fruit of the tree would be considered unclean and they could not eat of it. After that period of time there would be a year in which all the fruit was to be considered as belonging to God and they could not eat of it. After that the tree and its fruit were theirs and would be blessed.
When my wife and I planted the new tree to try again my children came to us and asked if we could do like the Israelites used to do and dedicate our tree to God. So that is what we are going to do. We shall be considering the first year of fruit to be unclean, the second year shall belong to God, and the third year the tree will be ours. Of course, this all assumes that this one lives. I'm kind of curious to see if our little tree will be blessed.
Some months ago while driving to church one Sunday morning I was telling my children about the Law of the Old Testament and some of the things that the Israelites were required to do under the Law that we are not bound by thanks to the perfect sacrifice of Christ. I was, at that time in my morning devotionals, reading from the book of Leviticus and so had some of the requirements of the Law fresh on my mind and one of the examples I used for my children involved the planting of fruit trees. God instructed the Israelites that when they came into the land He promised them that whenever they planted any fruit trees that for a certain number of years the fruit of the tree would be considered unclean and they could not eat of it. After that period of time there would be a year in which all the fruit was to be considered as belonging to God and they could not eat of it. After that the tree and its fruit were theirs and would be blessed.
When my wife and I planted the new tree to try again my children came to us and asked if we could do like the Israelites used to do and dedicate our tree to God. So that is what we are going to do. We shall be considering the first year of fruit to be unclean, the second year shall belong to God, and the third year the tree will be ours. Of course, this all assumes that this one lives. I'm kind of curious to see if our little tree will be blessed.