Sunday Post: The Trusting Tree vs. The Trying Tree

You are probably asking, what in the world is a trusting tree and what is a trying tree? Earlier this year during a church service at New Life in Bismarck,  pastor Mike Rose from Juneau Christian Center, explained that the Trusting Tree is the Cross on which Jesus died and the Trying Tree is the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

If you are leaning on the Trying Tree, you  are constantly trying to do better, you push yourself harder. You may try to do everything in your own strength. You try to get God to accept you and to love you more by doing things you think are pleasing go Him.

There’s a song by Tenth Avenue North called By Your Side and some of the lyrics demonstrate this perfectly:

Why are you striving these days
Why are you trying to earn grace…

Why are you looking for love
Why are you still searching
As if I’m not enough

The Trying Tree is based on the tree of knowledge of good and evil which can be found in the Bible in Genesis 2:8-9:

The Lord planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put the man whom He had formed. And out of the ground the Lord made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

When you lean on the trying tree, you are living by the Law that was established with the Old Covenant.

If you are leaning on the Trusting Tree, you know that you don’t have to do anything to earn God’s love and acceptance. No matter where you are in your life, He loves you with an unchanging, unfailing love. 

Even if you aren’t serving the Lord, He still loves you! You can trust that God loves you just where you are and that He will freely forgive you of your sins.

Some lyrics that represent this truth are included in the Jesus Culture song, One Thing Remains:

In death, in life, I’m confident and
covered by the power of Your great love
My debt is paid, there’s nothing that can
separate my heart from Your great love…

The Trusting Tree is based on the death of Jesus on the cross and the resurrection which represents the New Covenant:

For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross. And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight. Colossians 1:19-22

When you lean on the trusting tree, you are accepting God’s grace through the New Covenant. When thinking about the the Trying Tree vs. the Trusting Tree, remember the Law says DO and grace says DONE.

So which tree are you leaning on? Are you still striving to receive His love. Or are you living in perfect peace because you know that no matter what you do or don’t do, he will love you no matter what?