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In Christ, Mark
In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
"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 out
of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. The good man brings good things
out of the good stored up in him, and the evil man brings evil things out of
the evil stored up in him. But I tell you that men will have to give account on
the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken. For by your words
you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned."
Matthew 12:33-37
Matthew 12:33-37
“No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a
bad tree bear good fruit. Each
tree is recognized by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thornbushes,
or grapes from briers. A
good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil
man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth
speaks what the heart is full of.”
Luke 6:43-45
This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be
to God.
As you take time to self reflect on your actions each day, what do you discover? Do you find what you have done is good or what you’ve done is bad?
As you take time to self reflect on your actions each day, what do you discover? Do you find what you have done is good or what you’ve done is bad?
Perhaps, you may conclude something that I think many
people may as well, finding yourself in the middle as you determine you did
some good but also acted badly as well.
Given all this, I think it would be a good idea to see what the Lord expects from us?
In yesterday’s devotion, we received teaching from Jesus that showed us there is no middle ground when it comes to following Him. You’re either with Him or you are against Him (Matthew 12:30). And so with that, we can say that we are either predisposed to do good and righteous acts if we allow Christ to live and abide in us, or wrong and evil acts if we choose to side with Satan instead.
And so again, going back to the operative question from yesterday, when others witness your actions, what do they see? Do they see Jesus in you?
You see, we choose how we will live and in turn the fruit we bear through that life. Look again at today’s scripture passages from the Gospels of Matthew and Luke:
Given all this, I think it would be a good idea to see what the Lord expects from us?
In yesterday’s devotion, we received teaching from Jesus that showed us there is no middle ground when it comes to following Him. You’re either with Him or you are against Him (Matthew 12:30). And so with that, we can say that we are either predisposed to do good and righteous acts if we allow Christ to live and abide in us, or wrong and evil acts if we choose to side with Satan instead.
And so again, going back to the operative question from yesterday, when others witness your actions, what do they see? Do they see Jesus in you?
You see, we choose how we will live and in turn the fruit we bear through that life. Look again at today’s scripture passages from the Gospels of Matthew and Luke:
"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 out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks.
The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and the evil
man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him. But I tell you that
men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word
they have spoken. For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words
you will be condemned."
Matthew 12:33-37
Matthew 12:33-37
“No
good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. Each
tree is recognized by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thornbushes,
or grapes from briers. A
good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil
man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth
speaks what the heart is full of.”
Luke 6:43-45
As we see from today’s words of our Savior, Jesus
explains that the kind of fruit that a person bears will be determined by how
the person (or tree) is made. If a person is made good, and this only will come
through a commitment to allow Jesus to be Lord of their life, then the fruit
they bear will, in turn, be good. But is a person commits to a life of sin and
wrongdoing, then their fruit will be bad.
In the end translation, the fruit you bear will always
reveal whether you are good or bad, living in righteousness or wickedness.
So what fruit do you bear? When people see you, what does your fruit tell them about you?
Back to the scriptures where we revisit Jesus talking about the origins of good and bad in people. For He proclaims:
“…out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him.”
Jesus tells us that what comes out of a person emerges from overflow of their heart. If your heart overflows with goodness, then that’s what will come up from you, good things. But if your heart is dark and overflowing with evil, then evil will come up out of you and be displayed in the way you act, speak, and think.
Remember the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus’ signature teaching moment in His ministry? Here’s an excerpt from that instruction directly relational to our devotion today:
So what fruit do you bear? When people see you, what does your fruit tell them about you?
Back to the scriptures where we revisit Jesus talking about the origins of good and bad in people. For He proclaims:
“…out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him.”
Jesus tells us that what comes out of a person emerges from overflow of their heart. If your heart overflows with goodness, then that’s what will come up from you, good things. But if your heart is dark and overflowing with evil, then evil will come up out of you and be displayed in the way you act, speak, and think.
Remember the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus’ signature teaching moment in His ministry? Here’s an excerpt from that instruction directly relational to our devotion today:
“For where your
treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Matthew 6:21
If Jesus is your treasure, then that’s where your heart
will be and if your heart is with Jesus then you can rest assured that the
overflow of your heart will contain all the goodness found in Him.
Conversely, if you so choose to make something else your treasure, then stand by because you are opening up yourself to Satan entering in and turning your heart from good to bad, from right to wrong, from righteousness to evil.
Conversely, if you so choose to make something else your treasure, then stand by because you are opening up yourself to Satan entering in and turning your heart from good to bad, from right to wrong, from righteousness to evil.
And this does not come without consequence.
For as our passage closes today, here these powerful words of warning from Jesus:
“But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken. For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned."
Friends, we are not just free to live our lives as we so choose to without having to stand before the Lord and be held accountable. Rather, every man and woman will be assessed on the day of judgment for every careless word they've spoken with the penalty of condemnation based on those very words.
So forget about how others see you for a minute and ask yourself:
For as our passage closes today, here these powerful words of warning from Jesus:
“But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken. For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned."
Friends, we are not just free to live our lives as we so choose to without having to stand before the Lord and be held accountable. Rather, every man and woman will be assessed on the day of judgment for every careless word they've spoken with the penalty of condemnation based on those very words.
So forget about how others see you for a minute and ask yourself:
What does the Lord see in me? Is He pleased or
disappointed?
In the end translation, how the Lord sees you depends on you and what comes up out of you. Why not make things easy and allow Christ to live inside your heart forever? It’s the only true way you can ensure that anything that you do will right and righteous in the sight of those you associate with on earth and by the Father and Son who are in heaven reigning over us and all creation.
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com
In the end translation, how the Lord sees you depends on you and what comes up out of you. Why not make things easy and allow Christ to live inside your heart forever? It’s the only true way you can ensure that anything that you do will right and righteous in the sight of those you associate with on earth and by the Father and Son who are in heaven reigning over us and all creation.
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com
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