The Story of God预览

‘Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.’ Matthew 3:10 (ESV)

What fruit are you producing? What is good fruit? Examples of good fruit are detailed in Galatians 5:22-23. It says (ESV): ‘But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.’ John called the Pharisees ‘a brood of vipers’ in this story: ‘But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’ for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham.’ Matthew 3:7-9 (ESV). This warning is applicable to all of us who call ourselves Christians, because we were saved by grace through faith to leave behind the lives we once led. Lives dominated by self-centeredness, greed, lies... the list goes on. God’s grace should not be abused. Yes, you will stumble in your walk with God, and even on our best days, we dramatically fall short of God’s perfect standard, but we have been justified by Jesus’ atonement on the cross, and we must ask to be moulded every day into the image of Jesus so that we can indeed produce good fruit.

Question:

What fruit from Galatians 5:22-23 are you not seeing in your life? Ask God to produce this fruit within you through your relationships with people and situations you encounter.