Let Us Worship Him With All Our Strength

One of my very favorite trees is the Bald Cypress.  This stately tree is strong in stature and of a large girth which gives it a majestic presence.  This tree is a confer or cone bearing tree and most conifers are evergreen however, this tree is deciduous, meaning it loses its needles in the fall.

Before it sheds it's needles the Bald Cypress's boughs become heavy laden with sap filled cones.  What a fruitful and stately tree!

Psalm 104:16 depicts just such a tree!

The trees of the LORD are full of sap, the cedars of Lebanon, 

which He has planted; ... 

The word sap is the Hebrew word אֶרֶז ʼerez which means a cedar tree (from the tenacity of its roots).

For the Christian, a life that is planted by God is stately and strong and is directly dependant on the root system.

Revelation 22:16 shows us who our root is

I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you 

about these things for the churches.  

I am the root of and the descendent of David, 

the bright and morning star.

Without  Jesus as our source, we will never become strong.  And the point of our growth and strength is for no other reason but to give back to Him who nourishes and feeds us.

The purpose of our flourishing is not for our own sake but for His sake.  Our lives are meant to be used to worship Jesus.

Leviticus 23 speaks of all the feasts of the Lord and in verses 39-43 we see that the boughs of trees are used to celebrate the Lord.

And you shall take on the first day the fruit of splendid trees, branches of palm trees and boughs of leafy trees and shall celebrate it as a feast to the LORD for seven days in the year.  

These limbs from the trees were an important part of a 7 day celebration  called the feast of booths or Sukkot which is a feast to the LORD.  

Our lives are filled with the strength, vigor and sap from the Son so that we can be cut down and used to worship Him.

Like the Frankincense that comes from the sap of trees, our lives should be used as fuel to offer sacrifices to our King!

Philippians 1:21

For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.

The fragrance of our lives is for God to spread the fragrance of Christ to the world.

Our lives are a Christ-like fragrance rising up to God. 

But this fragrance is perceived differently by those who are being saved and among those who are perishing.

So let us not lose sight of the truth that our lives are for Him and let us not be rattled by how we are received by others when we are focusing on worshiping Him and sacrificing our lives for Him.

Let's unashamedly spread out our branches in worship to Him because He alone is worthy!