06/08/2026
Today during this morning devotionas, as Dave was reading about pride, something hit me so deeply I had to stop and sit with it. I suddenly thought about the actual tree Jesus was hung on.
Not the smooth, polished cross we picture in church art… but the real wood. The real tree.
The real texture of the Middle Eastern landscape.I realized I’ve never heard a pastor, a church, or even other believers talk about the actual trees the Romans used.
It wasn’t a dogwood tree. Those don’t even grow in that region. And none of the trees that do grow there are smooth like I always imagined.
The Romans didn’t mill lumber or sand beams. They used trees—living, freshly cut, or roughly hewn trunks—because they were everywhere, fast, and brutal.Early Christian writers often didn’t even use the word “cross.” They used a word that means “hung on a tree.
” And suddenly that made sense to me in a way it never had before.Hanging from a tree adapted into a cross meant enduring the raw, splintering friction of a living or recently harvested trunk.
The crushing weight of the body pressed torn skin against rough, sap‑stained wood.
The iron or rope holding the hands and feet created an agonizing, inescapable tension.
It was real. It was earthy. It was creation itself groaning under the weight of the Savior and the type of tree used makes the picture even deeper:
Olive wood is dense, heavy, and deeply grooved. The same kind of tree Jesus prayed under in Gethsemane may have been the kind of tree He hung on. The tree of peace became the tree of pain
Cypress is associated with mourning and eternal life. Its resinous smell fills the air.
A tree symbolizing eternity possibly used as an instrument of death.
Palm wood is fibrous and flexible, creaking under weight.
The same tree waved in triumph on Palm Sunday could have bowed under the suffering of the Savior on Friday.Every one of these trees carries its own symbolism, its own texture, its own message.
And suddenly I understood why Peter and Paul said Jesus was hung “on a tree.”
They weren’t being poetic. They were being literal. They wanted believers to feel the rawness, the earthiness, the reality of what Jesus endured.
Today this revelation brought me to a deeper level of understanding of His suffering and His love.
Jesus didn’t die on a smooth, crafted symbol.
He died on a real tree, with real bark, real splinters, real weight, and real agony
and
He did it to set us free and make a way for everlasting life
I will never see the cross the same way again.
Prayer: Jesus,
Thank You for opening my eyes today.
Thank You for letting me see the cross not as a symbol,
but as a real tree — rough, heavy, splintered, and stained with Your love.
Let this revelation sink deep into my spirit.
Let it change the way I 🌾
Reflection :What changes in my heart when I picture the real tree Jesus hung on?
How does this deepen my understanding of His suffering — and His love?
What does it mean that creation itself bore witness to my salvation?
Let it deepen my gratitude, my worship, and my surrender.
You hung on a tree so I could live.
And I will never forget it.
Amen.
Tonight we will be watching prerecorded video on the principle approach of step 6.
"We're entirely( ready) to have God remove all our character defects".
Our pride must be surrendered to God before He can begin a good work in us.
Are you ready?
Romans 11:16-18 ESV
[16] If the dough offered as firstfruits is holy, so is the whole lump, and if the root is holy, so are the branches. [17] But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, although a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing root of the olive tree, [18] do not be arrogant toward the branches. If you are, remember it is not you who support the root, but the root that supports you.
https://bible.com/bible/59/rom.11.16-18.ESV
"Psalm 139:23-24: "Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!"
