Grafted Into God's Family

"Consider therefore the kindness and sternness of God: sternness to those who fell, but kindness to you, provided that you continue in his kindness. Otherwise, you also will be cut off. And if they do not persist in unbelief, they will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again." Romans 11:22-23

I love this tree. It’s in my neighborhood, and I see it when I am walking. I’m not quite sure how it came to be, but my best guess is that a pink dogwood and a white dogwood were grafted together when they were small.

It always reminds me of Romans 11, the only place in the Bible that mentions grafting. It talks about God grafting the Gentiles into His family so that they too could receive salvation. To do this, He had to cut the Israelites off for a time, because of their transgressions, but He will bring them back.

I don’t fully understand it all; I only know that I am thankful to be "grafted" into the tree of God’s family. Because of Jesus’ death on the cross, salvation has been extended to the Gentiles who believe.

The tree in this picture represents to me the two parts – the Jews and the Gentiles, blended together to make one tree. And what a beautiful tree it is!