APPLE TREE STORY
Getting to the Heart

This is a story about a man that bought 25 apple trees for
his family's acreage. Four years later, all but one of the
trees had finally begun to bear fruit. The orchard keeper
loved caring for the trees and picking the apples. He did
it for a dozen years.

One summer he decided to visit a nearby orchard to ask
about the tree that had never born a single apple. The
horticulturalist there explained the mystery. When orchard
workers tilled the ground around the trees, they made
sure to hit the trees' roots, sometimes even until the
tree --wept--. The popular idea was that apple trees must
be wounded and --weep-- before they could produce fruit.

The man went home and drove a 16-penny nail through
his barren tree until the sap flowed from the wound.
The next year that one tree bore more fruit than all
24 others combined!

Do wounds mark your life?

For God so loved the world that He
gave His only begotton Son, that
whosoever believeth in Him, should
not parish, but have everlasting life.
(John 3:16)

Jesus' story--which has through faith become our story,
also involves a tree. That tree rose up from the ground,
taking the shape of a cross. No one drove 16-penny nails
into that tree--Roman soldiers drove spikes into it,
spikes that also pierced through the flesh of the one
named Jesus. Those wounds also continue to pierce hearts
and turn lives toward the Savior in repentance and faith.
Yes, the tree of Christ's cross bore blessed fruit.

That fruit is personal. Because of what happened on the
cross, God has brought blessing upon blessing into our
lives. God has poured out His grace upon each of us, and
He now considers you His beloved child, and heir of
heaven's incredible riches. On a tree Jesus gave His life
for each of us.

If thou shalt confess with thy mouth
the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in
thine heart that God hath raised him
from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
(Romans 10:9)