Matthew 7:17-20 Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a corrupt tree bears evil fruit. A good tree cannot produce evil fruit, nor can a corrupt tree produce good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and cast into the fire. So then you will know them by their fruits.
In Israel, it’s amazing how many trees are being planted all the time. In fact, the green line that you hear about so much in the news isn’t an actual drawn borderline, but it is a visible line you can only see from the air. It’s where Israelis stopped planting trees.
Now suppose I wanted to plant a fig tree — would I go searching for lemon seeds? Of course not! And even if I planted a fig tree next to a lemon tree, it would still only produce figs, no matter how close it was planted to the lemon tree.
So in our lives, though we may be surrounded with sourness, even planted in a “lemon grove”, we are “fig trees” — and the sweetness of our fruit will remain, because we were planted by the Lord Himself, to produce good fruit under all conditions. There is no question that if we are planted in Him the good fruit we bear will come forth in both good times and bad times.
Life is filled with ups and downs, unforeseen circumstances that send our lives in strange loops we weren’t expecting — nevertheless, we were fashioned to be fruit bearers…unconditionally. You may say ” George, you don’t understand, you have no idea what’s happening in my life right now!” You’re right, I don’t — but I do know the Lord who laid down his life unconditionally for you — and that He did it so He could abide in you and you in Him — guess what for…
If life is overwhelming you, then it’s time to reach down deep and draw nourishment from the Root of our lives — Yeshua the Messiah. The sap of His Life will produce… MUCH! GOOD! FRUIT!…despite the lemons!
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[worthy_plugins_devotion_single_body]The Lord spoke to Moses, who led the children of Israel out of Egypt to be desperately cornered with the Red sea before them and Pharaoh’s chariots advancing upon them from behind. Overwhelmed with terror they cry out to Moses, “It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!” Having just miraculously escaped from the miserable life of slavery, and only beginning their new life of freedom, the children of Israel were faced with the most dire threat to their existence.
Over the past few weeks, we’ve begun a series of devotions based on the Exodus wanderings of the Children of Israel, and their tragic mistakes which we can learn from and avoid. One powerful influence common to their failures was fear.
For the past two weeks we have examined lessons from the OT account of Israel’s Exodus from Egypt in hope of avoiding the errors and attitudes of the children of Israel. This week we will draw connections between the Exodus and the prophecies in the book of Revelation.
For the past two weeks we’ve been building life lessons derived from the Exodus wanderings and from Paul’s exhortations to the church in Corinth. Notice carefully that Paul says, “these were written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the ages have come”…
…that is, written for us today! – admonitions from Paul to learn lessons from the history of the children of Israel.
Paul exhorts the church at Corinth about grumbling and complaining. He reminds the believers of the judgments that befell the 10 spies who brought a bad report of the land – and were struck down by a plague, and terrible fate of Korah and those aligned with him that came against Moses and Aaron and were swallowed up by the ground under them.
Here we have a stark word. Here we see the Lord testing Israel: “He gave you manna to eat in the wilderness, something your ancestors had never known, to humble and test you so that in the end it might go well with you.” [Deuteronomy 8:16]. Yet Paul says that they put Him to the test. A great irony occurs when God is testing us, and we despise His discipline, thereby testing Him.
The Apostle Paul continues his warning to the Corinthians against idolatry by referring to Israel’s celebration/worship of the golden calf. Aaron’s proclamation, “These are your gods (plural) O Israel” could be one of the earliest declarations mixing the worship of the true and living God, YHVH, with idols. This is called “syncretism”. Dictionary.com defines it: ” the attempted reconciliation or union of different or opposing principles, practices, or parties, as in philosophy or religion.”