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    Jim Langley: ‘He Grew the Tree’ for Our Sake | Homes & Lifestyle

    (Barbara Mandrell video)

    For the past few weeks, I’ve caught myself singing a tune I first heard and then later performed in church more than 30 years ago.

    “He Grew the Tree” was written and produced by Chuck Lawrence in 1982. Country artist Barbara Mandrell was probably the most notable to perform this gospel song, which paints a poignant picture of God’s preparation for His Son’s death on a cross.

    As I sing bits and pieces of the ballad to myself and occasionally with those I’ve met with recently, I can’t help but think of the incomparable cost paid nearly 2,000 years ago.

    “He molded and built a small lonely hill that he knew would be called Calvary.Then He made the seed that would grow to be thorns that would make His son bleed.”

    Are you getting the picture?

    “Then He made a green stem, gave it leaves and then gave it sunshine and rain and sheltered it with moss. Still, He grew the tree that He knew would be used to make the Old Rugged Cross.”

    Those first four verses instantly touched my heart and I hope they touch your heart as well. The half-dozen times I’ve had the pleasure to present this song in front of a Christian audience are times I’ve truly cherished.

    The lyrics continue, “Nothing took His life, with love He gave it. He was crucified on a tree He created. Great love for man, made God stay with His plan. God paid the price so that we might go free. He grew the tree that He knew would be used to make the Old Rugged Cross.”

    So, what’s going through your mind?

    Listen closely to what follows: “With tears in His eyes God looked down through time, saw Him spat upon, rejected and mocked. Still, He grew the tree that He knew would be used to make an old rugged cross. Nothing took His life, with love He gave it …”

    There’s no need to continue. These lyrics have become extremely personal to me and I hope they will become personal to you as well. You see, God had to allow His only Son to be born of a virgin, live a sinless life and be crucified for the sin of mankind!

    Since the beginning of time, God has known the evil tendency in His greatest creation. His first effort to remove that evil was The Great Flood — a warning of sorts to future generations with Noah, his wife, his three sons and their wives being the only survivors along with the animals that obviously warranted being saved for the purged experiment to continue.

    Yes, these descendants of Adam and Eve still carried their sin nature as we all do. All we must do is recognize our own inappropriate thoughts and actions to realize we, too, carry that sin nature.

    All along, I believe God knew that the only remedy was to send His only begotten Son into this world to die a sacrificial death so we might be saved from the consequences of sin — alienation from our Heavenly Father.

    Easter represents “victory over death” for all mankind. When Jesus ascended into Heaven after walking the face of the earth for 40 days after His death, burial and resurrection, we were fortunately given the opportunity to accept God’s plan of eternal salvation.

    Let me conclude with these words spoken for the sake of mankind found in Isaiah 55:6-8: “Seek the Lord while He may be found; call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts. Let him turn to the Lord, and He will have mercy on him, and to our God, for He will freely pardon. ‘For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,’ declares the Lord.”

    It all started with a tree in the Garden of Eden and ended with a tree used to crucify our Savior and Lord. There’s no better time to draw near to the God Almighty than right now. He wants all to accept the precious gift of salvation! After all, ‘He Grew the Tree’ for our sake.

    Passages to Ponder

    » Psalm 22:14-18

    » Isaiah 53:1-6

    » John 17:25

    » 1 John 1:5-8

    — Jim Langley has been writing for more than 30 years while working as a life and health insurance agent in Santa Barbara. In recent years, his passion has turned to writing about his personal relationship with God, and his goal is to encourage others to draw near to Him as well. As a longtime member of CBMC of Santa Barbara (Christian Business Men’s Connection), he started writing Fourth Quarter Strategies columns in 2014, and he now reaches an international audience through the CBMC International devotional Monday Manna. He can be contacted at [email protected] for more information. Click here for previous columns. The opinions expressed are his own.

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