The Tree of Life
Not a repaired tree—but a grafted life, joined to Christ the source.
📚 Devotional Credit: Abide Above
📷 Photo Credit: Unsplash
Salvation isn’t just a cleanup of the old—it’s a complete replacement of the source. What God has done in Christ is far more than forgiveness and cleansing; He has given us new life by placing us into the Last Adam, not mending the old, but grafting us into a new root entirely (2 Corinthians 5:17). J.N. Darby reminds us: cultivating the crucified old man may dress up its appearance, but it can never change its nature. The old tree can never bear the fruit of the new life.
Even after salvation, we often exchange worldly distractions for spiritual ones, still living out of our own efforts—even good ones. But Christ has not called us to live from patience, gentleness, or humility as personal virtues. He calls us to live by a Person. The fruit of the Spirit isn’t a toolkit—it’s Christ’s own character being expressed through us as we yield to Him. The abiding life means we stop trying to become more Christlike and instead let indwelling Spirit of Christ live His life through us.
🧩 Real-Life Integration:
It’s like catching yourself trying to be more patient during a frustrating conversation, rehearsing how to stay calm. But what if you quietly turned inward to Christ instead—not to summon patience, but to acknowledge, “Lord, You are my patience here. I trust You to respond through me.” In that moment, it’s not about fruit management. It’s about source exchange.
📓 Personalized Journal Entry – Voice of the Holy Spirit Through Scripture
You are not here to renovate what I already condemned to the cross. The old man was crucified with Christ, not rehabbed. You are no longer tethered to that tree. I have placed you into the very life of My Son, the True Vine. You now draw from Him—not from your own resolve, not from spiritual improvement projects, but from union with Me.
Let Me remove even the spiritual substitutes that have quietly taken My place. You were never meant to live from patience, love, or gentleness as isolated traits. These are not your tools—they are My expressions. You were made to live from a Person, not a principle.
As you abide, you will bear the fruit of the Spirit—not by effort, but by life. My Son is your peace. My Son is your humility. My Son is your everything. Live from Him, and you will never lack again.
(Galatians 2:20; 2 Corinthians 5:17; John 15:4–5; Romans 6:6–11; Philippians 1:21)
🔍 Real-Life Analogy
It’s like switching from pouring water into a leaky bucket to connecting a hose directly to the source. You could keep refilling your bucket—patching it, reinforcing it, trying to make it hold more—but the solution isn’t fixing the container. It’s trusting the flow. Christ in you is not a refill of your old capacity. He is the endless supply.
🙏 Prayer of Confidence
Father, thank You that I don’t need to work on becoming better. I’ve already been made new in Christ. The old source is gone. I’m no longer drawing from what was broken. Today I rest in the finished work of the cross and the unceasing flow of the risen life of Jesus. I trust You to express Your gentleness, love, and patience through me—because they are not separate things I must possess, but aspects of the Person who lives in me.