Aspens and the Body of Christ

The quaking aspen, Populus tremuloides, is considered a single organism because all the stems originate from one root system. That makes the world's largest living organism an aspen grove in Utah named Pando, Latin for "I spread." The aspen grove Pando covers over 100 acres and is estimated to weigh 6,600-tons. It has over 47,000 individual stems. That is one BIG living body!

The experts who determined this fact are probably very scientific and logical people. People like that usually are experts in their field and have a lot of factual information in their heads. They have made observations and come up with conclusions based on the things they have seen, touched, smelled, heard, and maybe even tasted. There is one important thing they left out, however. They neglected to cross over into the spiritual realm into the Kingdom of God.

If they explored that Kingdom they would find that the aspen is actually the world's second largest living organism. The largest is the Body of Christ.

"So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another."
Romans 12:5

"For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ. For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. For the body is not one member, but many."
1Corinthians 12:12-14

"But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ: From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love."
Ephesians 4:15-16

It is impossible to count how many Christians there are in the world. Taking a very conservative estimate of 1.5 billion (All other estimates I've found are much closer to two billion, but for the sake of our study we will stay on the conservative side) and taking a very conservative estimate of the average weight of a Christian at being 125 pounds that makes the Body of Christ 187,500,000,000 lbs or 93,750,000 tons. That's a lot heavier than the 6,600 tons of Pando.

A grove of trees is aspens looks similar to any other grove of trees in that it appears to be a bunch of the same kind of tree. The difference is that any other grove actually is a bunch of trees and the aspen grove is actually one tree connected together by its roots which are out of sight beneath the soil. Christians are connected together by the Holy Spirit out of sight in the spiritual realm. The natural eye sees individual people. Looking with a spiritual eye you can see the Holy Spirit in people. The same Holy Spirit is in every Christian.

Once God gave me a hint as to how the Holy Spirit fills us. He reminded me that our bodies are all made of molecules. We actually are not a solid object. There are empty spaces between all the molecules. He created all of us the same. All people are made of the exact same substance... molecules with space around them. The Holy Spirit fills all those spaces when He enters us.

That was what God showed me. He knows how I like to have things explained in a simple way with visual effects if possible. I'm sure that how the Holy Spirit fills us is way more complicated than that, but that doesn't matter. What God was showing me was that we are all the same. To put it more simply, all Christians are the Holy Spirit with the molecules that make us appear to be solid people spread throughout.

Let me interject something here. The day before I neared completion of this study I met with one of my weekly prayer partners. She shared one of the devotionals in her daily devotional book. Thatdevotional applies to this study on aspens. God had me start this study a long time ago. It has been sitting, uncompleted, for quite some time. I would occasionally open it up and attempt to work on it, but just couldn't feel God guiding me. I didn't understand what was happening, but I would close it up and move on to something else. Then, all of a sudden, it began to come together. I didn't understand why God had kept me from finishing it. Now I think I see one reason why He held me back.

"But the Spirit of the LORD came upon Gideon, and he blew a trumpet; and Abi-ezer was gathered after him."

The Hebrew for "came upon" is clothed with. The Holy Spirit CLOTHED HIMSELF with Gideon! The Holy Spirit is the same as the root of the aspen grove. Are you seeing it? The Holy Spirit doesn't just fill us, He puts us on over Himself. The Holy Spirit becomes primary and we actually become secondary. At the time the Holy Spirit enters us then we become a member of a larger Body, connected by a single factor... the Holy Spirit.

"I [Jesus] am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing." John 15:5

"For through him [Jesus] we both [Jews and Gentiles] have access by one Spirit unto the Father. Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God; and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; in whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: in whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit." Eph 2:18-22

Jesus is the reason we are able to become one large organism. He is our connection, our attachment, the cord that binds. He sent the Holy Spirit to dwell in us, to keep us connected with Him.

"And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you." John 14:16-18

God designed it so the entire Body of Christ would be working together for His purposes. He gave each of us gifts to use. He gave each of us talents to use. There is a job to be done and only He knows the best way to do it.

In order to be in position in the Body and ready to be used, we need to be reading our Bibles to enable us to absorb the knowledge about God that we need to have. The knowledge about God is like the gasoline that goes into an automobile. The gasoline provides the fuel that turns into power. The Word of God turns into power within us.

We also need to be building a close relationship with God. We need to be in communication with Him. It is this close relationship that will enable us to hear His voice. He will direct us where He wants us. We will be working side by side with all the other members of the Body. We may not see the full effect of our portion, but we must be diligent in doing our portion and have faith that God will work out the details of the rest.

The Body is one, yet many. As a tiny tiny member of the Body I know that I must stay focused on the job He has given me. (I say tiny because I am 1/ 1,500,000,000th of the entire Body.) My portion is not tiny. There is no tiny ministry in God's eyes. Your portion is not tiny. It is worth repeating: THERE IS NO TINY MINISTRY IN GOD'S EYES!

The name of the aspen grove, Pando, means "I spread" in Latin. It continues to grow. The Body of Christ, too, continues to grow. Parts of the Body are working to strengthen the other members of the Body. Some of the Body parts are sent to bring more people into the Body. There are a multitude of different jobs within the structure of the Body. We won't know what our portion is until we let God show us.

The Body of Christ is one large living breathing purpose-filled machine. God has given it purpose. We give it the ability to function by voluntarily submitting our will to God's will. Shall we be all that God wants us to be?