We have been grafted in...
Recently I read this book, it says: In Arizona, city parks and boulevards are decorated with ornamental orange trees that are a much hardier stock than the trees that produce the sweet ranges we eat. Because they can survive colder temperatures, they are used for root stock.
The ornamental orange is allowed to grow to a certain height; then it is cut off, and a new life (such as navel orange) is grafted into it. Everything that grows above the graft takes on the new nature of the sweet orange. Everything below the graft retains the physical characteristics of the ornamental orange. Only one tree remains when it is fully grown. The physical growth of the tree is still dependent upon the roots that go deep into the soil for water and nutrition. What grows above the graft takes on the nature of what was grafted into it.
People don't look at a grove of navel oranges and say,"That grove is nothing more than a bunch of root stock!" They would call them navel oranges because they would identify the trees by their fruit. That is how we should be known.
Jesus said,"So then, you will know them by their fruits" (Matt 7:20). The natural person is like an ornamental orange tree, who may look good but cannot bear any fruit that isn't bitter. The fruit will only drop to the ground and bring forth more natural stock that will only appear to look good for a season.
The ornamental orange is allowed to grow to a certain height; then it is cut off, and a new life (such as navel orange) is grafted into it. Everything that grows above the graft takes on the new nature of the sweet orange. Everything below the graft retains the physical characteristics of the ornamental orange. Only one tree remains when it is fully grown. The physical growth of the tree is still dependent upon the roots that go deep into the soil for water and nutrition. What grows above the graft takes on the nature of what was grafted into it.
People don't look at a grove of navel oranges and say,"That grove is nothing more than a bunch of root stock!" They would call them navel oranges because they would identify the trees by their fruit. That is how we should be known.
Jesus said,"So then, you will know them by their fruits" (Matt 7:20). The natural person is like an ornamental orange tree, who may look good but cannot bear any fruit that isn't bitter. The fruit will only drop to the ground and bring forth more natural stock that will only appear to look good for a season.
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home