Tuesday 7 Jan 2014

Tuesday Reading: Luke 6:43-45

Key Verse: Luke 6:44
For every tree is known by its own fruit. For men do not gather figs from thorns, nor do they gather grapes from a bramble bush.

Devotion:
Adam and Eve faced the temptation of an ideal fruit tree that God had told them they should not eat from; and man today faces the same fruit tree of sin that God has warned us against. Man has been facing temptations and sin for a long time and God has been trying to separate us from that sin for a very long time. It is when we are away from God that we do face that temptation and quite often we do give in and sin when we should know better.

God has given us His Word to warn us against the sin that we will face. He allowed Christ to come to die for our sins so that we would not be facing eternal death because of our sins. He gave us The Holy Spirit to dwell within us to guide us and keep us from being tempted by sin… and yet we still go there and we still give in! God knew that from the start and He made sure that we would have an escape plan from the start as well.

When we go out and tell others that they should not be giving in to the sin around them we need to take a very long look at the example we are showing others before we start dishing out advice! We need to make sure that we are not just observing the law that God gave us, but that we are obeying it and living by it. If we do not live by it then those around us will see a very different fruit to the one that we think we are showing off! They will see a very rotten apple instead of a nice fresh juice apple that we think we are depicting.

God is trusting each of us with a task to show off the best possible fruit that we can. He gives us the means to cultivate the best fruit in our lives and He gives us the ultimate Guide who will give us the best chance at growing the best fruit… but we need to listen to Him and we need to make sure we actually do what He asks of us. If we do not listen to good instruction then we will not hear good instruction! Listen, learn and apply it into your life!

Points to Ponder:
Do you listen to God?

Do you actually listen and learn?