What Kind of Tree Am I?

Claire Black: Welcome to True Girl, a podcast for girls and their moms. I’m Claire Black. Together, we’ll explore God’s truth for us one drive at a time. Buckle up. You're about to grow closer to each other and closer to Jesus!

Song:

I am a true girl.
Oh, oh, oh, oh.
I am, I am, I am a true girl!

We’re back in the True Girl studio today with Dannah Gresh and Suzy Weibel. 

Last week, we unlocked Suzy’s secret diary. On one small page, Suzy said that she hated a classmate . . . and that she loved God more than anything. We looked at James chapter 3 which talks about that same thing. It’s so easy to use the exact same tongue to say hurtful things and to praise God. James then wrote: “This is not right!”

We agree. That’s why we’re devoting this season to unlocking Suzy’s diary and learning what God has taught her about her sin. She promised to tell us why she was prone to having double-minded thinking and what changed her.

Let’s join Dannah and Suzy to continue to study the book of James. You’ll see that the words you use are like fruit that grows from a tree. And the fruit matches the tree. So when you say words that are not right, you have ask, “What kind of tree am I?” That’s what episode 2 is called.

Oh, by the way, the pizza delivery guy just dropped off a studio snack.

Dannah Gresh: Hey there True Girl. Suzy and I are in the studio again, and our pizza just arrived. Do you mind? And, we are having a debate about something.

I’m only going to say this one more time, Suzy, while we have the mikes turned on. Pineapple has no right to be on a pizza. 

Suzy Weibel: Okay, this is an age old debate, but have you tried it?

Dannah: Ew . . . and no! Fruit has no business being on my pizza! I’m going to stick to this side of the box, good ol’ pepperoni!

Suzy: Okay, okay, I get it. I won’t eat liver and onions, so I guess you’re allowed to refuse pineapple on a pizza. 

Dannah: But, I don't think you should compare liver and onions to pizza! (laughter)

Hey, when I grabbed the water bottles out of the fridge, I noticed that Ann put up a new letter from our True Girl snail mail. (That’s what we call the good, old-fashioned kind because it moves at the pace of a snail compared to digital communication!)

Look at this Suzy; there’s even a hand drawn snail on the note, because she knows we call it snail mail.

Suzy: Ooh, escargot! (And no, I’ve never ordered that on my pizza!)

Dannah: This is a note from Auraleyna!

Suzy: Hello Auraleyna! Hope we’re saying that correctly. Beautiful name!

Dannah: Let me read her snail mail. 

Dear True Girl, 

I am eleven years old and wanted to say thank you for all you do. I was at your Crazy Hair Tour last spring. I went with three very close friends. I had never felt so connected to Jesus than that night at the tour. My mom listens to Revive Our Hearts, so every morning I wake up to Dannah Gresh speaking about God and Jesus. I love Jesus so much and you encourage me to hear more. 

Thank you True Girl!

Suzy: Thank you Aurleyna for writing to us. You’ve encouraged us!

Dannah: Okay, so I’ve been thinking a lot about your diary since the last time we talked. Clearly you settled this in your mind a long time ago. You wrote that (dare I say this?) back in 1979. 

Suzy: Right. But I guess I wish I had never written it. I feel lucky, no, BLESSED is the right word, to have ever figured this out. Because I think a lot of people are stuck right where I was on June 6, 1979.

Dannah: I love that you know the exact date! What do you mean by that?

Suzy: Well, we’ve been talking about James chapter 3. Is your Bible still open to James 3?

Dannah: Yep! 

Suzy: Sweet! Okay, I want to look at verse 12, but go ahead and start reading again at verse 9.

Dannah:

With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be. Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? My brothers and sisters, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.

Suzy: Remember what you said to me just before the pizza came?

Dannah: What?

Suzy: You said I couldn’t be both the girl who said she hated her classmate and the girl who loved God. 

Dannah: Right. Those two things do not go together. The same tongue (or in your case the same pen) cannot be used for both cursing people and praising God. 

Suzy: Right, and can we talk about pineapple again?

Dannah: Oh my.

Suzy: I’m not going to force you to eat my Hawaiian pizza. But think about it. You’re in Hawaii. You see a plant and you ask your guide, “What kind of plant is that?” 

He says, “That’s a pineapple plant.” 

Would you ask him to check and see if it’s producing corn?

Dannah: That’s ridiculous!

Suzy: A pineapple plant will not produce corn. An apple tree won’t produce oranges.

Dannah: Aha, now I am tracking with you. A grape vine according to this Scripture won’t produce figs. 

Suzy: Exactly.

Dannah: How about we take this one level deeper. It’s not just that an apple tree is stubborn. An apple tree doesn’t say, “I could produce oranges if I wanted to; I just don’t feel like it right now.” An apple tree . . .

Suzy: CAN’T produce oranges! It’s impossible! 

Dannah: That’s right. So, it sounds like in 1979, you needed to figure out what kind of tree you were going to be. 

Suzy: And you know, Jesus said something similar in Matthew 7 when he was warning us about false teachers. Can I borrow your Bible? 

[Pages turning]

Here it is. Listen to verse 16: “By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?”

Dannah: This is getting good! Now, since we’re already digging in, does the apple tree choose what type of tree it will be? Does a grape vine one day say, “I like grapes. I think I’ll make grapes.”

Suzy: No! A tree’s fruit is determined by its identification. They don't chose. It’s . . . um, let me see if I can remember some of these scientific words: kingdom, phylum, class, order . . .

Dannah: You’ve got it. Also genus and species. All that to say, each tree produces fruit in keeping with its proper identity. We tend to remain true to our kingdom, if you will. 

Suzy: Oh wow. That’s such a good picture. Jesus said we no longer live, but He lives through us. Our identity is found in Jesus, so we’ll produce fruit that looks like Him if we abide in Him. It’s no wonder that diary entry was so upsetting to me.

Dannah: If my identity is in Jesus . . .

Suzy: I won’t be saying, “I hate her.”

That is completely in line with what happened to me shortly after I wrote my thoughts in this diary, Dannah. I went on a youth retreat, and I was really shocked to find my friend’s older sister was our chaperone.

Dannah: Well, don’t big sisters make great chaperones?

Suzy: I would say that typically they do, but this older sister had been in a lot of trouble ever since I knew her. That’s one of the things my friend and I bonded over. We both had older siblings that were on the wild side. 

Dannah: And you and your friend . . .? 

Suzy: We were the good kids . . . or at least I thought we were. My diary kind of ruins that theory, huh?

Dannah: Let’s just say you were not sure what kind of tree you were yet. 

Suzy: When my friend’s sister began to talk to us at that retreat, she was a new person! She had met Jesus and, well, a new kind of fruit was growing in her life. All I knew when I heard her talk about Jesus was that I wanted that same fruit in my life.

Dannah: It's the best thing when we get a front row seat to see the life change made by Jesus!

Let me drill down on something here. You saw her life. You wanted her life. So, you tried extra hard to do more good things so that kind of fruit would grow instead of the old kind of fruit?

Suzy: Ooh, I smell pineapple on that pizza! That's called the doctrine of works. And, no, that’s not it at all. Of course I needed to become a new tree, because that was the only way my life was going to produce good, lasting, eternal fruit. You know how this goes, right? 

Dannah: I really want to hear it from you.

Suzy: That’s when I was born again.

Dannah: So you are saying when you wrote that in your diary, you weren't a Christian yet. 

Suzy: I believed in God, but Jesus was not the Lord of my life. My identity was not in Him.The diary proves it, right? Here's what happened to me on the youth retreat. I believed in my heart that Jesus died for my sins. So I confessed with my mouth those things. I agreed that Jesus belonged on the throne of my life. 

Even though I had gone to church my whole life, I still had to choose what kind of tree I was going to be. But I couldn’t make myself that tree. Jesus did all of it. He changed me.

True Girl, if you have bad fruit coming from your life—maybe it’s something you wrote in your journal, or maybe it’s things you say out loud—could it be that you’ve never made Jesus the Lord of your life? You never decided what kind of tree you’re going to be?

Could it be possible that today is the day you realize you need Him? I’m going to say what I often say at a True Girl event: turn to your mom or an adult who is nearby. Have a conversation about this. Tell her if there’s bad fruit in your life that’s convicting you of your need for Jesus’s forgiveness. And then ask the question, “Have I ever asked for Jesus to forgive me and said with my mouth that I believe He died for my sins?” If not, why not today?

Let me pray for you.

Jesus, we know that an apple tree can't produce oranges. We know that a pineapple plant can't product corn. Fruit comes from the kind of tree that describes it. Fruit comes from the tree that it's identified with.

Jesus, I pray that right now you would place in the heart of every girl, of every woman, of every person who is listening, a heart that desires to have its identity found in you and you alone. Because if we do that, You are the vine, the true. vine, and we are the branches. And if we abide in You, Your Word says we'll produce much fruit. 

So we turn to You and ask that You would teach us to abide, that our life might bear good fruit. In Jesus' name, amen.

Claire: True Girl, what kind of tree are you? I hope this conversation is helping you understand the important relationship between the tree you are and fruit that comes from your mouth. My life is producing fruit, and so is yours. It’s not hidden! 

One thing is for sure, if I am going to tell people that I belong to Jesus, I want to be producing fruit that looks like it came from Jesus. If my fruit doesn’t match, or if it's rotting (because that is also obvious), I need to rethink what my fruit is telling others about who I truly belong to. 

I really hope you’ll surrender your life to Jesus. He loves you so much. And if you don't know what that means. You should talk to your dad or mom. And when you experience that, you’ll see a difference in the kind of fruit you produce.

And you know what helps good fruit grow? Staying connected to Jesus and filling your heart and mind with His truth.

That’s one reason we created the True Girl subscription box! Every sixty days, we send a box of Bible-centered fun, devotionals, and mom-daughter activities. They’ll help you grow strong, healthy roots in Jesus so you can produce good fruit in your life. Find out more at MyTrueGirl.com.

Join us next time for one last peek into Suzy’s diary!

Song:

Oh, oh, oh, oh.
I am a true girl.
Oh, oh, oh, oh.
I am, I am, I am a true girl!

The True Girl Podcast is a production of Revive Our Hearts, calling women of all ages to freedom, fullness and fruitfulness in Christ.
 

*Offers available only during the broadcast of the podcast season.