The fruit of the righteous is the tree of life
and he who wins souls is wise Proverbs11:30
We are sometimes so caught up in the here-and-now that we lose the long term perspective.
Jesus made it absolutely clear that we should store up treasures in heaven, and yet we easily get sucked into the hurly burly of present. Sometimes the immediate benefits of righteousness are not clear and the costs of doing the right thing can be so high that we are tempted to give it a skip.
But when we live out our faith and when we reach out to others, we are making an eternal difference. We cannot take our money, shares, property, or social status to heaven. The only thing we can take with us is people. When we reach someone with God's Good News, we will see them in heaven.
It is our righteousness (with God's help) that will attract others. It is our willingness to love that will reach others. To live for Christ will bear fruit and that fruit is almost always going to bring others to the tree of life. Reaching others with God's love is the most enduring thing we can do on this earth.
The prophet Daniel said a similar thing:
"Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever."
---
--------------------------
Theo Groeneveld theo@emmanuel.org.za
You can see past EmmDevs at http://emmdev.blogspot.com/
