An acorn’s potential is never realized until it dies. And the same is true for us. Our resurrection as rooted men comes at the cost of death.
An acorn desperately holding on to its current reality will never become an oak tree. No amount of affirming its potential matters until it is willing to go into the ground and die.
When it is willing to shed its old hard shell and surrender to a larger reality, it’s potential is finally realized. In time, a mighty oak tree stands where an acorn once died.
This is a universal pattern, typified in the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. And this way of the cross shows us our path to transformation as well.
The seed we put in the ground is not the plant that will grow. What is buried in weakness will be raised in strength.
Likewise, our full glory as men will not be realized until we too are willing to die and surrender to a larger reality.
However, this death is not the putting on of passivity or laziness – merely falling asleep to our duties and responsibilities in life.
Rather, it is the putting off of our pride and any false idea we hold on what it means to be a man.
When we die to our false notions of manhood, God will resurrect us as new men – empowered to live as the true sons of God and able to bring more life and goodness into the world.
But this is no easy path to follow. It comes with a great cost. Can we trust new life will come if we give up the only reality we have known our entire lives?
Many of us remain as acorns because at least this reality is safe and known. It takes a lot of courage to die and trust a reality beyond ourselves.
But Christ has shown us the way. And his resurrection gives us hope.
When we are united with him in his death, we will also be raised as he was to walk in a new life and power.
Trusting in the power of his resurrection allows us to stand as mighty oak trees where our old self was once buried.
Don’t stay an acorn forever. Follow the path of the cross and become all that God has for you.
