The Rebuild: Matthew 5-7Sample

We have a fig tree at home and this is our second year of gaining fruit from it. We have little experience with anything to do with plants, so you can imagine our surprise when we started seeing a large bounty of figs growing on the branches again. However, the excitement dwindled as we came to terms with the fact that perhaps our tree wasn’t as healthy as we had hoped. Turns out the tree actually had a disease.

Jesus gives us a severe warning. We will recognise who is true and false by a person's fruit - what they do and what they don’t do. A diseased tree may give the impression that it's healthy, but the state of the fruit will be the ultimate outcome.

This is the same with us. Appearances can only be kept up for a certain length of time, before the state of our heart is exposed. True believers have the character of the kingdom in their life; they have the fruit of the Spirit pouring out of their life. Let’s allow the Spirit to be working in our hearts daily to ensure that we are radically different from the rest of the world.

Today, ponder this: A healthy tree produces good fruit. Read through the Fruits of the Spirit. Is your life producing the fruits of the Spirit? Are there branches that need to be pruned or removed in order to be regrown?