Lord, Help My Critical HeartSample

A Fruitful Life 

What is the fruit of your life? Think about your words, your social media comments,  habits, and invisible thought life. Are these producing good fruit? What would fruitfulness look like in those areas? 

 

Comparing ourselves to others often produces the fruit of discontentment. Critical and judgmental thoughts harden the heart and steal energy that would be better spent elsewhere. Gossip breaks trust and damages relationships. Are your words, thoughts, and actions yielding good fruit? 

 

Proverbs tells us that life-giving words can be like “apples of gold.” Are your words a treasure to those who hear them? Our words can be a chance to be generous with encouragement and kindness. We can be the ones to speak the words we ourselves have longed for. “I’m proud of you.” “You are such a gift.” “Thank you.” 

 

So how do we become the bearers of this good fruit? Luke tells us that our words flow out from what is in our hearts. We cannot treasure things of the flesh if we want to walk in step with the Spirit. In order to walk closely with God, we need to call our critical spirit what it is: it's sin. Then we can confess, repent, and turn away from sin and toward God. 

 

Surrender Step: Look at what your thoughts and words produce. Are you missing opportunities to sow seeds of good? Who can you celebrate and cheer on today?