Summer for the Righteous

He showed me many trees again, some of them budding and some withered, and he said to me, “Do you see these trees?” “I see them, sir,” I said. “Some are budding and some are withered.” [a]

“These trees,” he said, “the ones that are budding, are the righteous, who are going to live in the coming age; for the coming age is summer to the righteous, but winter to sinners. So when the mercy of the Lord shines out, then those who serve God will be shown for what they are — and everyone will be shown for what they are. “For just as in summer the fruit of each single tree is plain to see, and it is known what sort of tree it is, so too the fruit of the righteous will be plain, and they will all be known to be in full leaf in that age. But the nations and the sinners — the withered trees you saw — will be found just so, withered and fruitless in that age. They will be burned up like firewood and shown for what they are, because what they did in their lifetime was evil. The sinners will be burned because they sinned and did not repent; and the nations will be burned because they did not know the one who created them.

“So you — bear fruit, so that your fruit may be known in that summer. And keep away from doing much business, and you will go wrong in nothing; for people who are busy with many things sin in many ways as well, pulled this way and that by their own affairs and giving their Lord no service at all. How, then,” he said, “can a man like that ask the Lord for anything and get it, when he does not serve him? Those who serve him will receive what they ask for; those who do not serve the Lord will receive nothing. “But if a man carries on only one line of work, he is able to serve the Lord as well; for his thinking will not be corrupted away from the Lord, but he will serve him with his mind kept clean. So if you do these things, you will be able to bear fruit for the coming age — and anyone who does them will bear fruit.”