Dwarf Christians
Illustration★★★★One of the strange freaks of Japanese horticulture is the cultivation of dwarf trees. The Japanese grow forest-giants in flower-pots. Some of these strange miniature trees are a century old, and are only two or three feet high. The gardener, instead of trying to get them to grow to their best, takes infinite pains to keep them little.
His purpose is to grow dwarfs, not giant trees. From the time of their planting they are repressed, starved, crippled, stunted. When buds appear they are nipped off.
So the tree remains only a “Truth Embodied in a Tale” dwarf all its life. Some Christian people seem to do the same thing with their lives. They do not allow themselves to grow. They rob themselves of spiritual nourishment, restrain the noble impulses of their nature, shut out of their hearts the power of the Holy Spirit, and are only dwarf Christians when they might be strong in Christ Jesus, with the abundant life which the Master wants
The point
Just as Japanese gardeners deliberately stunt bonsai trees to keep them small, many Christians stunt their own spiritual growth by starving themselves of the Holy Spirit's nourishment.