To Give
Ron DeBoer
10/24/2009

One of my favorite children’s books is Shel Silverstein’s The Giving Tree. The 1964 best-selling book has been viewed as a metaphor for parents and their children and for God and his children. The story is about the relationship between a tree and a little boy who climbs its branches and eats its apples and sleeps in its shade. But as the boy grows he wants different things from the tree. As a teenager, he sells its apples so he can buy things. As a man he cuts down its branches to build a house. As an older man he cuts down the trunk to make a boat and fulfill his dream of sailing away. As an old, old man all he wants is a place to sit. The tree tells him he has nothing left but his stump for the old man to rest on. Each time the tree was able to give the boy something, the tree was happy.  It is the most beautiful story of unconditional love you will ever read.

If you haven’t read the book, here’s the 1973 film version.

At a glance, the book is a tale about giving, but when you really examine it, the story is as much about getting. The boy kept coming back to the tree to get more and not once did he consider taking care of the tree or giving the tree anything back.

When I consider my relationship with God, I am a lot like the little boy in The Giving Tree. I go off and live my life and every time I need something I return to God to ask him for it. I get and get and get from God, and he gives and gives and gives. But we are called to be first and foremost givers: givers of our resources, givers of time, givers of praise and worship to God. In Psalm 112, the author says those who fear the Lord “share freely and give generously to those in need” (Psalm 112:9, NLT). In Acts, Luke tells his listeners they should remember the words of Jesus: “It is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35, NLT).

Our default actions in life should be about giving, not getting. How can we give of ourselves like Christ, who gave his life for us? 

God not only gave us his son Jesus to die on the Cross so that we could be saved and get eternal life, but he also gives grace unconditionally for those who believe. Some of the Bible’s final words are also about a “giving tree”—the tree of life: “I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you this message for the churches. I am both the source of David and the heir to his throne. I am the bright morning star. The Spirit and the bride say, “Come.” Let anyone who hears this say, “Come.” Let anyone who is thirsty come. Let anyone who desires drink freely from the water of life. And I solemnly declare to everyone who hears the words of prophecy written in this book: If anyone adds anything to what is written here, God will add to that person the plagues described in this book. And if anyone removes any of the words from this book of prophecy, God will remove that person’s share in the tree of life and in the holy city that are described in this book” (Revelation 22:16-19, NLT).

May you find your giving tree in Jesus, and may you, like Jesus, be a giving tree to others.

Ron DeBoer is author of Questions from the Pickle Jar: Teens and Sex.