Known By Their Fruit

Scripture: Luke 6:43-45 (ESV)

⁴³ “For no good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit, ⁴⁴ for each tree is known by its own fruit. For figs are not gathered from thornbushes, nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush. ⁴⁵ The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.

Devotion:

            Jesus in this short story introduces what many would call an obvious truth. He states that good fruit comes from good trees and bad fruit comes from bad trees. This truth is obvious to anyone who reads and thinks about what Jesus is stating here. There is a fundamental difference between trees and people, however.

            A tree or a plant that grows up to bear bad fruit will always bear bad fruit, there is no way I know of to change that fact. Good trees bear good fruit; however, disease may affect the plant causing it to bear bad fruit. The fruit that the plant will bear is predetermined and not a lot can be done to change the type of fruit that will be harvested from that plant.

            Likewise, Jesus states that you cannot pick figs from a thornbush or grapes from a bramble bush. Grapes always come from the grape vine and figs from a fig tree. This law of nature was established at creation where each plant, animal, bird, or fish produced according to its kind. Man has however, found ingenious ways to sometime alter this basic principle of creation.

            We have explored the plant and animal life forms, but what about human beings? Jesus here makes a claim that a good person speaks forth good thins and a bad person speaks for bad thing out of their heart. I contend that the main difference between the plant and animal kingdom is that the human heart can be changed.

            I have seen many people who were born in difficult circumstances and act out and speak out in very bad ways. However, I have seen these same men, when Christ has gotten ahold of their heart turn out to be wonderful human beings that did many amazing things for Christ and their fellow man.

            Jesus may be did not want to introduce all the possibilities of change into this simple story that we all understand plainly. I simply want to stress the fact that as long as a human has breath in their lungs there is a possibility of a change of heart. Let us come before the throne of grace to thank God that we can be changed by His mighty power.

Prayer

            Lord, we come before you today with hearts full of gratitude. We know that we do not always produce the good fruit for your kingdom. We thank you for your ability to change hearts. We can always be changed for the better by your mighty power. You know that there are many in our world today who need your changing touch. We pray for your healing touch in their lives today. Please heal us of our own sin sickness and bring us to new life in you. Amen.