STUNTED GROWTH: Novelty or tragedy

Have you ever seen a bonsai tree? The best ones have all the features and appearances of a fully-grown tree but only have a small fraction of the size.

Bonsai trees may be several years old but remain in small pots and are only about twelve inches high. A Texas ebony tree was dug from the banks of the Rio Grande just a few miles from the Gulf of Mexico. The tree was no different from the other trees when dug out but was kept miniature by regularly clipping and pinching off its limbs. When potted, most of its roots were cut off and every two years the process is repeated. The small pot greatly limits its root development, so it would die in one day without water.

Bonsai trees are pretty for decoration, interesting to look at, but they are not good for much else. The bonsai Texas ebony will never shade a house, nor will a bonsai olive tree produce edible olives.

Some Christians are like bonsai trees. Their spiritual growth has been stunted. Their spiritual roots have been clipped. The harsh “sun” of this world can quickly bring them to the point of spiritual death because of their shallow and limited knowledge of God’s Word. There has been time and opportunity for maturation and fruitfulness, but with spiritual growth restricted, there is only a dwarfed Christian.

When a TREE
doesn’t grow,
it is a NOVELTY.

When a CHRISTIAN
doesn’t grow,
it is a TRAGEDY.

If I took a bonsai olive tree out of its small pot
and planted it in good rich soil,
it would begin to grow and with reasonable time and care,
it would produce olives.

The bonsai Christian can grow also.
He can allow his roots to grow deep in the Word of God
and thereby take spiritual nourishment.
Properly nourished, the Christian will mature and bear fruit.

2 Peter 3:18
But grow in grace,
and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

1 Peter 2:22
As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word,
that ye may grow thereby:

Colossians 3:16 NLT
Let the Word of Christ, in all its richness, fill your lives

Colossians 3:1-3  NLT
Since you have been raised to new life with Christ,
set your sights on the realities of heaven,
where Christ sits in the place of honour at God’s right hand.
Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth.
For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God.

Colossians 2:7
Rooted and built up in him, and established in the faith

Ephesians 4:13-14
Till we all come in the unity of the faith,
and of the knowledge of the Son of God,
unto a perfect man,
unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:
That we henceforth not be as children.

Or as the Amplified Bible puts it . . .
until we all attain oneness in the faith
and in the comprehension of the full and accurate knowledge
of the Son of God,
that we might arrive at the completeness of personality
which is nothing less than
the standard height of Christ’s own perfection,
the measure of the stature of the fullness of the Christ
and the completeness found in Him.
So then, we may no longer be children,
tossed to and fro between chance gusts of teaching

 

*************************************************************************************

The advertising which may appear below is not placed by the author and
is not to be considered as a part of this post or an expression of my views.

*************************************************************************************