Our greatest concern in life is to know God, and within this, to know the depths of righteousness and to have a true understanding about all the ways of sin. This, along with truly walking in these things, is the entire work God has given to each of us individually in life.

Even if we do not perceive this, when we do not do this work, when we do not fully give our strength, hearts, minds, and lives to it, then we will be filled with the opposite of these things.

God created humanity to be a people that are filled with godliness and righteousness, to be a people in this world who walk in what is truly good, wise, just, loving, and pure. And the corruption in mankind is seen in every single way that we do not walk in this.

What we often do not understand is that when we forsake this work, we will be empty of the substance of it. Not only will we be empty of the substance of it, but we will be filled with other things.

God shows us in scripture that to be empty of wisdom and goodness is to be like a tree that doesn’t bear fruit. This illustration may not hit home for us when we live in a society that doesn't depend upon growing their own food at home in order to survive. But if we step into the picture Christ is painting for us, imagine that we did live like this. If we planted a tree at home, we are doing so in dependence upon it. We depend upon it for food, and we would rejoice in its fruit for the great pleasure and joy it would give us.

This is the image of God with all of us. We are all planted like a tree in the garden of God’s world. And God plants us with a purpose. The purpose is that we would bear the fruits of righteousness, truth, wisdom, and godliness.

And what God reveals to us is that when we do not, then we are like a tree that bears no fruit, or a tree that bears bad fruit. Just as we would reach out to a tree in hopes of enjoying its good fruit, so God desires the good fruits in us of godliness and righteousness.

God reveals to us that when we do not set about this work, then we will not produce this fruit. Just as a garden has to be cultivated, so righteousness and godliness have to be cultivated in us. So if we are idle in this, if we have contempt upon this work, then we fail the great purpose of God in our lives.

The hard truth that God reveals is that if we do not produce these fruits then we are corrupt trees, void of good fruit, and even producing poisonous fruit in God’s world. God desires that all of us would turn and see this great purpose of God, that we would begin to produce these fruits of godliness and righteousness. Yet if we refuse this chance, then God shows us that there is nothing left to do but to uproot these trees out of God’s world.

Luke 13:6-9, Matthew 3:10, 7:19, 12:33, 21:43, Hebrews 6:7-8, Mark 11:12-14.