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.