“There are some people who stay over in the old circle of their former life and attempt to abandon things that have been their whole life. That is not God’s method. There is one variety of oak tree that is known as the pin oak. One of its chief characteristics is that it keeps its dead leaves all through the winter. But some spring day when the sap flows, the leaves will drop off because of the pulsing new life within. All believers have a lot of dead leaves clinging to them and some people start picking them off, one by one. All they do is reveal the dead skeleton of their former life and it is denuded and uninviting. But there are some Christians who understand that God’s method is to let the sap flow from the vine into the branches. Then the old leaves will fall off and the new life will come all by itself. It is one of the most important lessons to be learned in the Christian life. ”
D.G. Barnhouse
