“Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is recognized by its fruit. You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of. A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him. But I tell you that everyone will have to give account on the day of judgment for every empty word they have spoken. For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned” (33-37).
I love to eat fruit and during one time of my life I lived near an orchard. They produced award winning fruit. Their apples and peaches were sooooo good.
This family orchard worked year round to produce tremendous fruit… pruning, watering, fertilizing, even warming the trees when an early frost threatened to harm fruit still on the tree. It took a huge amount of work to produce excellent fruit. And there were plenty of handling procedures to pick and protect the fruit from bruising on the way to the shelf. Producing good fruit is a difficult and time consuming job.
Jesus reminds His listeners that the goal of life is to produce good fruit and to do so one has to produce and maintain a good tree.
The life analogy seems clear. We, as Christ followers, have to do the work necessary to make our lives good so that we produce good fruit. It is not enough to have a ‘good’ life if we aren’t producing ‘good’ fruit.
Naturally my thoughts bounced to my life and my fruit. Am I producing good fruit in keeping with my faith in Jesus? Are other people being touched for and drawn to Jesus? That, after all, is the best indicator of my faith in Jesus. It is your best indicator, too.
Think about it.
Lord, show me the works I can do for You today. Show me kingdom fruit I can bear for You today. I love You. And I pray in Jesus’ name. Amen
No comments:
Post a Comment