Proverbs 11:30
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The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life; and he that winneth souls is wise.
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Your great goal is to be a tree of life - to win souls from sin and folly to righteousness and wisdom. There is no higher calling or greater purpose, in your relationships with others, than to serve them by providing correction and instruction to please their Creator and enjoy the abundant life of godliness and wisdom. The highest measure of love and value to other men is perfecting them before the Lord God.
A tree of life bears the fruit of wisdom and righteousness, which helps men find the good and peaceful life that is pleasing to God. A person that is a tree of life has a life-changing effect on the lives he touches. By example and counsel, he feeds and improves the lives of those struggling in ignorance and folly. This is the noblest and wisest use of your life.
This proverb does not teach you can save a soul from the punishment of sin to everlasting righteousness: it does not teach you can save a soul from eternal hell to bliss in heaven - for only our blessed Lord Jesus can do that. The imputed righteousness that makes us legally accepted before God is by the grace of God and the singular obedience of Jesus Christ Himself (John 1:13; 6:39; 17:2; Rom 5:19; 9:16; Eph 1:3-12; II Tim 1:9; Heb 1:3).
This proverb does teach you can save a soul from folly and error, which costs men their fellowship with God and leads them to trouble and destruction in this life. Wisdom leads to the good life (3:18; 4:13; 8:35), and righteous men help others find it. Folly causes men pain and death, and wise men will help others out of it (8:36; 11:19; 13:14).
Parents can save their children from death and hell - pain and trouble in life - by using the rod wisely (22:15; 23:13-14). Though Solomon used the words death and hell, he does not mean you can save your child from the lake of fire by beating him. But you can save him from hell on earth - a dysfunctional and destructive lifestyle - by use of the rod.
Solomon, as a loving father, spent many proverbs seeking to save his son from the death and hell of the strange woman - a whore and adulteress (2:18-19; 5:5; 7:27; 9:18). Many have felt the horrible pain caused by fornication and adultery, and it is death and hell in many respects. Good fathers will save the souls of their sons from this grave danger.
James described Scriptural soul winning best, when he wrote, "Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one convert him; Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins" (Jas 5:19-20). True soul winning is of brethren, from error back to the truth, which is the act of conversion. Only God can regenerate a man from death to life. We need conversion many times during our lives, but God's regeneration we only need once.
Reader, are you a tree of life? Do others thank you for helping them in their life before God? Do you win souls? How many have you turned back to the truth? Are you known for wisdom hanging from your branches? Are you a source of salvation from the storms of life to those in need? Do you help those around you acquire wisdom and its benefits? You must ask and answer these questions before the holy God.
Those who turn others to righteousness are highly exalted in God's view. Daniel praised the coming ministers of the New Testament, "And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever" (Dan 12:3). Is this a chief goal for your life? How well are you meeting it?
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