Sweet or Sour?

I got up early this morning. Allergies have gotten the best of me and ended up at this scripture in Luke 6. As I was studying, I found a Bible page that someone else had drawn and it really resonated with me, so of course I added it to my Bible.

“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

I love lemons. I like them in water. I like to put lemon juice over some shrimp or fish and I’ve been known to give a baby a lemon to watch their little face pucker at the sour taste. But, as I read over this scripture this morning, I couldn’t help but think of the fruit of the spirit:

Love, joy, peace, goodness, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness, patience and self-control

Those are fruits that a believer should possess and when someone is admiring the tree that is our life they should see those figurative fruits hanging from our arms and legs like literal fruit on a tree. Our mouths should speak sweet words and our hands should be callused from the constant pruning that comes with being a child of God.

Now, don’t get me wrong…when I am writing, I have first dealt with something in my own life and feel that God has spoken to me…I just choose to share it here in hopes that He is glorified.

With that being said,

What fruit am I producing?
What does my tree look like?

In verse 45, scripture says that out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. When you really sit and think about that and meditate on those words, it causes you to take inventory of every thing you said the day before, doesn’t it. Our mouth is the biggest hindrance in a fruitful life. With it, comes the power of death and life. It displays what is happening on the inside of us more than anything else. That’s not my words, that’s what scripture says.

And honestly, it comes across a little sour to the taste on this Wednesday morning.

When we lay out our fruit on the table, is it worthy to be eaten by others? Have we continued to produce a life that is full of nothing that pleases the palate of our God? We must do better. If we choose to call ourselves Christians, we must not continue to override the voice of the Holy Spirit who we say lives within us and serve rotten fruit to the world.

We are the branches of The Vine. If our fruit doesn’t look appealing, then neither does Jesus to a lost and dying world. It is our job to bear good fruit and show this world just how sweet it is to be a child of God!