We

enjoyed gardening when we lived in California. Every year we would

harvest a variety of produce from our small garden beds. One of my

favorite photos from that time shows our son holding up a head of

broccoli bigger than his own head. We also planted some fruit trees.

But we didn’t label some of them and couldn’t remember which ones

were peach and which ones were nectarine—until they produced fruit,

that is.

In

Luke 6, Jesus isn’t just talking about trees. He’s talking about

people. People can be known by what they produce. On the outside

everything can look good, but the fruit that is produced might not be

as pleasant as the outward appearance.

Faith

has a way of producing fruit in us. Faith that is founded on strong

roots in God, his promises to us, his Word in us, faithful prayer,

and a community of believers around us can’t help producing the

fruits of justice, peace, good news, grace, love, and forgiveness.

Good trees bear good fruit, and bad trees bear bad fruit.

What

kind of fruit is faith producing in you? If the produce of your life

isn’t very good, it’s time to take a look at the tree of your

life. Take a look at what roots you have, and begin to develop the

good roots of faith provided by Christ. When the roots are good, the

fruit can’t help being good as well.