“He who plants a tree
Plants a hope.
Rootlets up through fibres blindly grope;
Leaves unfold into horizons free.
So man’s life must climb
From the clods of time
Unto heavens sublime.
Canst thou prophesy, thou little tree,
What the glory of thy boughs shall be?”
Every life is sent into this world to be a blessing. God’s thought for every creature he makes is beauty and usefulness. The marring and the curse we find everywhere are not divine purposes, but come from the resistance or the perversion of the holy will. The word “sin” means missing the mark; anything or any person that fails to be beautiful or to be a blessing has missed the mark.
The Bible makes it plain that fruit is the test of the Christian life. Jesus made this very clear by saying that the branch in the vine which beareth not fruit is taken away, cut off, and cast out to be burned. It is useless, and there is no room on the great vine for any useless branch or twig. Jesus said also that the fruitful branch is pruned that it may bring forth yet more fruit. That is, even ordinary fruitfulness does not quite satisfy the husbandman; he wants every branch to do its best, and therefore he applies a system of culture which will insure increasing fruitfulness. Jesus made it clear that no one can be his follower in truth who is not willing to be a luxuriant fruit bearer: “Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.” We cannot be his disciples if we do no bear much fruit. All the culture of the Christian life is toward fruitfulness.
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