”The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life; And he that winneth souls is wise.“
Proverbs 11:30
One of the basic rules of the Universe, you produce more of what you are.
This verse explains that righteousness produces a tree that brings life and the person working to gain the hearts and minds of others is wise.
Another basic principle expressed in the first section of the verse is, if you want to correctly judge someone look at the fruit they produce; or are they even producing fruit? If not, they are barren which should tell you what you need to know.
The second section of the verse is an addition to the first. We see the first section as a word picture. A tree, seen as a sign of strength and virility, produces seeds which pro-generate more trees of the same variety. Those trees grow and produce more seeds which will create more trees and more fruit. Essentially this is the cycle of life but the word picture goes beyond the life cycle and infers the Righteous produce fruit. That fruit is a tree of life. The term “tree of life” is a powerful idea. Many of the worlds religious and mythological institutions hold a tree of life in their lore. Without delving in too deep, a brief over view of the tree of life portrays a picture of a tree which has roots running deep, intertwining with the underworld as well as branches in the sky, holding on to heaven. The tree of life bears fruit continuously, showing it is always living and bringing new life. This fruit, when eaten, provides life, some say eternal life, to those who feast on the fruits.
Concerning the second portion of the verse, when written another way says: the person that, “wins over,” human souls (living being) is prudent.
This could be applied broadly, as in we should strive to live a life which draws others to us through love, respect, caring and kindness; thereby, showing ourselves worthy of friendship or mentorship.
It could also be as simple as the maxim, for a man to have friends he must show himself friendly.
Yet another application involves building trust. Think of this scenario. A young man graduates from school and heads off into building his life. He carries irritations from his Parents life choices. He swears to himself he will never follow in their footsteps. As he makes his way he finds a broad new world beckoning him to flee what he knew and explore new possibilities some of which, he knows, his Father would not condone.
As he explores he finds himself in tough situations.
If the Father scolds the Son. He is not winning his Son’s soul.
If the Father condones what he knows is wrong he is compromising himself. The Son may be temporarily happy but will in his heart despise the Father for the compromise and count it a transgression. This will not win the Son’s soul.
The Father must allow himself and his life to be questioned. He must be willing to adopt new viewpoints which are based on wisdom. He may even need to change himself as wisdom directs but he must stand firm and secure in what he knows to be correct. Capitulation to appease is deceitful or weak, neither of those attributes win souls.
For a reference, remember the parable of the Prodigal Son. The Father gave the Son what he owed (he was honest and upright with the Son). He allowed the Son to go and find his own way (he was not controlling and overbearing). He opened his arms when the Son came back (he was not vindictive).
He waited on his Son to come back (he allowed his Son to fail), but did not allow his Son to bring the hungry pigs with him.
In the end, whether you are in the position of the Son or the Father, we only have, at most, %50 say in any relationship. The other party has the other half, and if they allow others to influence them (like in-laws influencing their married son or daughter) that number of %50 drops according to how many parties are allowed to be decision makers. We cannot control others. We CAN win their soul as Proverbs 11:30 suggests.
In closing, it is my assertion, we win souls by being a tree of life and producing fruit which grows more trees of life.