Read the Book: July - SeptemberSample

Week 29

Matthew 12

The Good Fruit

Have you ever had bad fruit? The joy you initially had to bite into a delicious-looking plum or apple is suddenly replaced by the disgust of this deception. The religious leaders who were questioning Jesus appeared as if they were following God, but as they spoke and interacted with Jesus, the things they truly held importantly were revealed. We see how the religious leaders in this passage know the Word of God but do not live a life that reflects who God is. They followed the laws of Moses and adhered to the Sabbath to show their loyalty to God but missed the heart behind these laws. 

As Christians, our loyalty is not to the rules—it is to the God who stepped in and saved us because of where we fall short. Jesus came to earth to be our Savior. The religious leaders were looking for a sign to prove that He is God’s Son. Jesus beat sin and death without a doubt when He died and was buried for three days and then raised again.

What is taking center stage in our life? The trap that we can so often fall into is to put things that God loves above our love for God. God has given us wonderful things. He gives us families we love, jobs we have worked for, homes we have built, and the list goes on. He wants us to find happiness in life, but when put the pursuit of happiness over the pursuit of God, we find that things will always fall short. The religious leaders were pursuing the law of God over God Himself and were missing out on His plan for their life. 

Today, pray and thank Him for the things He has given you and pray that you can use them to follow Him more. Ask God to reveal the things in your life that have come from God that are taking precedence over Him.

Family Connection: Draw a fruit tree with the most amazing fruit you can think of. It can be anything from your imagination. Have you ever tried to grow a fruit tree? If the plant makes delicious fruit do you think that the plant is healthy? What if the plant makes gross sour fruit? In Matthew 12, Jesus tells us that we are like plants that produce fruit. When we say things that are encouraging and think good things it shows that we are like plants creating good fruit. Jesus said that we will be known by our fruit! As Christians, people will know that we follow God by the words that we say and the things that we do.