The Other Side of the Tree

by Don Linscott

I appreciate trees. Trees represent history to me. I wish trees could talk and tell us what they have witnessed in their long lives. Although trees cannot talk, they can teach.

After a stand of trees had been cleared from my property, I noticed a large poplar tree approximately 50 yards from the front porch of my home. The tree was over 100 feet tall. Obviously, it had been there for a long time but I had never noticed it before. Now from my front porch, I could view this tree clearly from top to bottom.

The tree was quite spectacular. It had grown tall and straight and was perfectly symmetrical. Its branches were long and loaded with leaves. I thought, “This is the tree every tree should strive to be.” As I walked toward the tree, I wondered how I could have driven passed this tree for nearly five years and never taken note of it. I thought, “This is an unforeseen benefit of clearing that small grove of trees. This tree can now be seen and appreciated!”

Upon reaching the tree, however, my admiration turned to disappointment. This tree was not nearly as healthy as I had thought. Closer inspection, however, revealed that the opposite side of the tree was nearly barren of limbs. The few limbs that were present were misshapen and bore very few leaves. This tree had two faces and it took no arborist to understand why. Other trees, now removed, had once crowded it, retarding its growth on one side. Open to the sun, the limbs on the impressive side of the tree had grown long and strong toward the sky.

Like a breeze that rustled through the leaves, a verse of scripture crossed my mind. To the church at Corinth, the Apostle Paul had written, “But as you excel in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in complete earnestness and in your love for us—see that you also excel in this grace of giving.” (2 Corinthians 8:7)

What I had seen in the tree, Paul had seen in the lives of the Corinthian Christians. On the one hand, they were vital and healthy believers. Their faith was solid. Their speech was effective. Their knowledge was extensive. Their earnestness was intense. Their love for others was exemplary. Like the other side of the poplar tree, however, Paul saw that their practice of stewardship was paltry and slow. They had not grown in the grace of giving. The Corinthian church members had neglected an essential feature of spiritual maturity and a key to Christian wholeness. They had not learned to give. Jesus, Himself, had forewarned of the gravity of this omission. “If you have not been faithful with unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? And if you have not been faithful in that which is another man´s, who shall give you that which is your own?” (Luke 16 :11, 12)

Vitality and growth in all other Christian disciplines does not compensate for the neglect of faithful stewardship. Without it, Christian growth is disproportional, disillusioning, and disappointing.