And yet you profess to be a fruit-bearer. The position you occupy implies that you have separated yourself from the fruitless trees of the world. You are in the vineyard of the Lord. You are called by his name. In assuming the designation of Christian, you have invited the Lord to come and seek fruit on your branches.
All things have been duly organized, in order that you may bring forth fruit. What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it? Has there been any lack of instruction as to the nature of the fruit required? There has been no lack. It has been shown you by precept, by example, poetically, historically, in parables, and in unadorned speech. Have inadequate motives been presented? The Son of God with arms outstretched upon the cross, pleading with God for you, and with you for God - what an infinitude of motives are comprehended in this spectacle! Fruitlessness is not merely wrong to others; it is self-injury, penury of the soul; and fruitfulness is the only true wealth we are capable of knowing. The absence of fruit is the presence o£ pride, vanity, selfishness, and all forms of unloveliness. Is there no adequacy of motive here? The whole earth is fruitful, in order that you may be fruitful. Far, far away there is a plantation, whose products are matured through many a day of patient shining of the sun, that they may, after the ministry of innumerable hands, by numerous channels, reach you, and furnish you with clothing. Other fields, beneath a more tropical sky, some in one continent, some in another, yield the ingredients of your morning beverage. In the unfrequented depths of vast forests, the powers of nature watch day and night over the plant that is commissioned to furnish an antidote for your fever. The whole world is put under daily contribution for you, and hardly is the least of your thousand wants unattended to, that every opportunity and every inducement may be furnished you for the producing of fruit. Why is that flower painted so exquisitely, and fashioned to be the momentary utterance of enduring love, and then thrown in your path by the Maker of it, but that you may render fruit? " Knowest thou not that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance," and to all the fruits of the Spirit that follow on repentance?
The Lord of glory himself has come to you, and come again, and again; by his servants, his Spirit, his providence; as a still small voice in your heart, and perhaps as a whirlwind among your possessions. Where found he you? In sloth, in revelry, in worldliness, in pride, in passion, - far, very far from fruitfulness. How wonderful that your probation was not then and there cut short. What reason is there to hope that a prolonged probation will witness any better results?
A daily devotional written by a Baptist Missionary to India, Reverend George Bowen (1816-1888) over 150 years ago.
George H. Bowen (30 April 1816 at Middlebury, Vermont – 5 February 1888 at Bombay, India) was an American missionary, newspaper man, linguist, and translator in India. He was known as "The White Saint of India" for his resemblance in manner and dress to the Hindu holy men.
And yet you profess to be a fruit-bearer. The position you occupy implies that you have separated yourself from the fruitless trees of the world. You are in the vineyard of the Lord. You are called by his name. In assuming the designation of Christian, you have invited the Lord to come and seek fruit on your branches.
All things have been duly organized, in order that you may bring forth fruit. What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it? Has there been any lack of instruction as to the nature of the fruit required? There has been no lack. It has been shown you by precept, by example, poetically, historically, in parables, and in unadorned speech. Have inadequate motives been presented? The Son of God with arms outstretched upon the cross, pleading with God for you, and with you for God - what an infinitude of motives are comprehended in this spectacle! Fruitlessness is not merely wrong to others; it is self-injury, penury of the soul; and fruitfulness is the only true wealth we are capable of knowing. The absence of fruit is the presence o£ pride, vanity, selfishness, and all forms of unloveliness. Is there no adequacy of motive here? The whole earth is fruitful, in order that you may be fruitful. Far, far away there is a plantation, whose products are matured through many a day of patient shining of the sun, that they may, after the ministry of innumerable hands, by numerous channels, reach you, and furnish you with clothing. Other fields, beneath a more tropical sky, some in one continent, some in another, yield the ingredients of your morning beverage. In the unfrequented depths of vast forests, the powers of nature watch day and night over the plant that is commissioned to furnish an antidote for your fever. The whole world is put under daily contribution for you, and hardly is the least of your thousand wants unattended to, that every opportunity and every inducement may be furnished you for the producing of fruit. Why is that flower painted so exquisitely, and fashioned to be the momentary utterance of enduring love, and then thrown in your path by the Maker of it, but that you may render fruit? " Knowest thou not that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance," and to all the fruits of the Spirit that follow on repentance?
The Lord of glory himself has come to you, and come again, and again; by his servants, his Spirit, his providence; as a still small voice in your heart, and perhaps as a whirlwind among your possessions. Where found he you? In sloth, in revelry, in worldliness, in pride, in passion, - far, very far from fruitfulness. How wonderful that your probation was not then and there cut short. What reason is there to hope that a prolonged probation will witness any better results?