Proverbs 10:31-32
The speech of the righteous bears the fruit of wisdom,
but the one who speaks perversion will be destroyed.
The lips of the righteous know what is pleasing,
but the speech of the wicked is perverse.
If you’ve ever tried to grow apples, you know that it’s not as easy as simply planting an apple tree. I think many people hope that they can just buy and apple tree, dig a hole, put the tree in it and have apples in the fall. Unfortunately, this is not the case.
We planted some apple trees a couple of years ago, and this past year they had a couple apples. That’s about all we’ve gotten from them so far. I need to get out and prune them so we have a shot at getting a few more apples this fall. But that’s the thing, to get apples, you have to prune the tree.
This is the same for us as we learn the ways of wisdom. We have to prune out the parts of our life that are keeping us from producing fruit. We learn what to do and what not to do. We learn what to think and what not to think. We learn what to say and what not to say.
The more we prune out, the more room wisdom will have to grow. It’s not even just in the sense of space, though that’s a part of it. If your life is crowded with too many things, there will not be enough room for wisdom and the ways of the Lord to take hold.
When you prune a tree, you’re cutting off the branches in hopes that the roots will send more nutrients to the fruit producing parts of the tree. That’s exactly what we want in our lives as well. We want to cut the parts of our life out that aren’t going to produce any fruit so that our strength and energy can be feeding the parts of our lives that will produce fruit.
Spend some time pruning the wicked and perverse ways out of your life and your speech. When you do so you will be setting yourself up to produce fruit that will last.
