What gives the strawberries and the cherries their color and flavor? Whence do the flowers derive their beauty?
We see a score of different fruits and flowers growing in the same soil, within a very small space, all receiving the same amount of attention, the same amount of moisture, and the same sunshine; yet all differ in appearance and taste, and each one is perfect after its kind. What is the source of this variety and perfection? The Scriptures give the answer: "God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself upon the earth: And it was so. And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed, after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind. And God saw that it was good." (Genesis 1:11-12) "Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. ... Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. If God so clothe the grass of the field, shall He not much more clothe you?" (Matthew 6:28-30)
Thus we see that the fitness and beauty of the plants of the earth are the product of the Word of life. That life is infinite, so that it can present itself in an infinite variety of forms, each one perfect after its kind.
The same Word that made the plants of the field, each after its kind, made man after his kind. Each plant was made to bear its own particular kind of fruit, and the fruit which man was made to bear, is righteousness. Jesus said, "I have chosen you, and ordained you, that you should go forth and bear much fruit, and that your fruit should remain. 8 Herein is my Father glorified, that you should bear much fruit." (John 15:1) "Being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God." (Philippians 1:11)
How is this fruit--the fruit of righteousness--to be brought forth? This is really the same question as the one at the beginning, and the answer is the same, for we have read: "As the earth brings forth her bud, and as the garden causes the things that are sown in it to spring forth, so the Lord will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth in the sight of all the nations." (Isaiah 61:11) "Israel shall blossom and bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit." (Isaiah 27:6)
There is therefore no more ground for doubting the possibility of God's working righteousness in man, than the possibility of His creating flavor, strength and beauty, in the plants of the field. Of this latter we have positive evidence. We see it. We do not know how it is done; that is God's business; but we know the fact. He who works perfection in the one will do so in the other, if the same submission be present.
The true nature of man is the Divine nature. Christ is the representative Man. It is God who makes man's way perfect, for His way is perfect. Whatsoever He does is good. Let Him have His own way, and we shall be likewise good.
If man would but accept the truth that "All flesh is grass" (Isaiah 40:6) and would be content to be grass, their ways would be as perfect as was all creation in the beginning. "Let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands upon us." (Psalm 90:17)--Present Truth, July 21, 1898.