The Fruit of Righteousness
For the past week or so the Lord has been reminding me about the fruit of righteousness. I have read it in His Word in James and Hebrews. As I have been reading Genesis, I keep seeing the consequences or the fruit of the actions of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. This morning I read Galatians 6:7 in my unhurried time. God promises that we will harvest what we plant in our lives. Therefore, I have been asking myself,"What am I planting in my life? What am I going to plant in my life in 2008? Am I going to see the fruit of planting righteousness or the fruit of unrighteousness?"
I am getting older now, and I can look back and see the faithfulness of God in my life. As I have planted righteousness, He has always produced the fruit of righteousness in my life. The more I spent time growing in my relationship with Him, the more I saw the good fruit of that in my life. I had more peace, contentment, and joy. The more I spent time reaching out to others to share the truth in love, the more I saw the fruit of righteousness produced in their lives. The more I was faithful to carry out my mission in life, the more the Lord has led me and blessed me. The more faithful I was to honor Him with everything He has given me materially by tithing and giving offerings, the more I have seen Him bless me with the fruit of righteousness. There is a huge cause and effect in life. I want the fruit of a right relationship with God and right actions toward others. That is the only way to go.
Of course, I can see in my life and in the lives of others the fruit of unrighteousness. It is sour fruit. It brings pain. Why? Because God wants all of us to get the picture that sin is wrong. He will not reward sin in any way. We need to listen to Him when bad things happen. Many times He is trying to show us that we are planting the wrong things, and we are reaping what we have sown. It isn't Satan. It is the Lord giving us what we deserve because of our unrighteousness. I pray that we will listen to Him, so we can enjoy the fruit of righteousness.
Tomorrow, I intend to read Genesis 36-38 and Matthew 10:21-42.
I am getting older now, and I can look back and see the faithfulness of God in my life. As I have planted righteousness, He has always produced the fruit of righteousness in my life. The more I spent time growing in my relationship with Him, the more I saw the good fruit of that in my life. I had more peace, contentment, and joy. The more I spent time reaching out to others to share the truth in love, the more I saw the fruit of righteousness produced in their lives. The more I was faithful to carry out my mission in life, the more the Lord has led me and blessed me. The more faithful I was to honor Him with everything He has given me materially by tithing and giving offerings, the more I have seen Him bless me with the fruit of righteousness. There is a huge cause and effect in life. I want the fruit of a right relationship with God and right actions toward others. That is the only way to go.
Of course, I can see in my life and in the lives of others the fruit of unrighteousness. It is sour fruit. It brings pain. Why? Because God wants all of us to get the picture that sin is wrong. He will not reward sin in any way. We need to listen to Him when bad things happen. Many times He is trying to show us that we are planting the wrong things, and we are reaping what we have sown. It isn't Satan. It is the Lord giving us what we deserve because of our unrighteousness. I pray that we will listen to Him, so we can enjoy the fruit of righteousness.
Tomorrow, I intend to read Genesis 36-38 and Matthew 10:21-42.