The Stump and the Sapling

"He condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit."      Romans 8:3b-4

An axe was once laid to the root of an old crab apple tree, barely leaving the vestige of a stump above ground. The old tree was not only felled, but mortally wounded, never to produce another crab apple. The owner of the orchard then grafted into the dry stump, a sprig bearing the flower of Golden Delicious apples. In time, a sturdy sapling had grown from the base of the stump and bore... what? Crab apples? No way. The fruit took on the identity and distinctiveness of the living graft, not the old stump. It was new fruit from a "new" tree. This delighted the owner of the orchard. But his work wasn't over. He still had to snip off crab-apple sucker shoots which would sprout from the stump. As long as he did, the Golden Delicious sapling flourished.