The Hebrews were pretty good at their own brand of Natural Philosophy. They took a look at what they saw around them and made wisdom out of it. It's pretty amazing that their writings have survived while the nations that surrounded them are barely heard from today. I know there are many inscriptions and other documents from parts of the Mideast, but as a cohesive way and philosophy of life, the Hebrew Scriptures are incomparable.

Unlike most of us today, they did not sit around and garner their wisdom from the NatGeo channel, as much as I love watching Planet Earth type programs, these people did their thinking and observing in the wilderness, not on the big screen. They were living and breathing nature every day.

Take the 1st Psalm for instance. It's about a tree. A tree planted by water. Now living with and around all kinds of trees, you will immediately think of some tree in your yard or one you've seen in the mountains, or maybe a Redwood that stands out from your visit to California, or maybe some fragrant tree in your backyard. For most of us, any tree might do. But this tree is special. It is planted by water. That means it grows like nothing else in a desert land where water is a daily life or death issue.

In short, Green, the color of trees, leaves, plants and so forth is the symbol of growth and spiritually, Righteousness. And Paul is all over Righteousness. That's what the book of Romans is about. Look for a theme in the book, and everywhere you turn, Righteousness comes up. We are not righteous, God is, we must be, we can't be but by faith we will be, in fact, when we accept Christ, we already are.

This Righteousness must be quite a big deal to God. I think the Psalmist knew this, as he watched the waters of life stream by the tall trees, he knew one thing for sure, you were either growing or dieing. By comparison, he knew that the trees that learn to depend on resources outside of themselves lived and often lived well. The ones that attempted to go it alone didn't do so well and were short lived.

Jesus came to give us abundant life, remember that. Sometimes I think that is His mission statement. I wonder what He really means by it all though. Isn't life, or at least some of it OK, or even good at times? What's so bad about it, that He would tell us that He came to this place to make it better? He must have a kind of living that is really spectacular I think. And he offers it to us, even as we struggle to make sense of it.

Paul does his best to help us see the cost incurred by Christ to make us see how valuable this life is. He wants us to enjoy this righteousness. Our life of non-denial denial needs to be faced before we will accept the abundant lifestyle. Amazingly this offer is free; not cheap, but free. Who knew that righteousness, the Abundant life and all the gifts of such a life were so easy to obtain? I think Paul must have laughed and cried and chattered like a squirrel as he dictated the letter to the Romans. Like a little child sharing a piece of candy, or a grandfather giving a special gift to his granddaughter, Paul was crazy in love with Righteousness. He couldn't wait to tell us how to have it.

Like a tree, we can plant ourselves in the presence of the Water of Life and take in all the best He has to offer. Live for righteousness, Christ does. As Jesus said, "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be satisfied."