{"id":1326,"date":"2014-02-18T04:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-02-18T04:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/frankretief1.wpengine.com\/?p=1326"},"modified":"2014-02-17T17:58:43","modified_gmt":"2014-02-17T17:58:43","slug":"roots-and-fruitsluke-6-v-43-45","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/frankretief.co.za\/roots-and-fruitsluke-6-v-43-45\/","title":{"rendered":"Roots and Fruits Luke 6 v 43 – 45"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"smoothy\"<\/a><\/b><\/p>\n

Luke 6 v 43. \u201cNo good tree bears bad fruit nor does a bad tree bear good fruit.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

In many ways this is a self-evident parable. The fruit of a tree is a fool-proof indication of what kind of tree it is. In the same way a person\u2019s actions, words and attitude are a fool-proof indication of the state of his heart \u2013 his inner self.<\/span><\/p>\n

The problem is we often deny the evidence regarding ourselves to avoid painful conclusions. We often excuse ourselves for our faults and foibles and in this way deceive ourselves. For instance, we cannot excuse our bad language by saying: \u201cOh, I just lost my temper for a moment\u201d, or after insulting our spouse saying: \u201cYou know I didn\u2019t really mean it.\u201d This is self-excusing nonsense. We have no right losing our temper in the first place. It is simply bad fruit and we need to repent.<\/span><\/p>\n

It is true of course that Christians can, and often do, say and do things that are out of character with their faith in Christ. And this is why we have such wonderful verses such as 1 John 1 v 9 in the New Testament.<\/span><\/p>\n

But Jesus is here not referring to the occasional lapse into bad habits, which we are all guilty of, in our human frailty. Rather He is referring to the constant, ongoing conversation of a man or woman. If their conversation and their lives are constantly full of evil things, whether these things are great or small, it indicates an evil heart. A man\u2019s talk (and a woman\u2019s also) is the overflow of the heart. What is predominant in the heart is what will come out. The new birth provides a moral judgement which acts as a kind of filter for our hearts. Sometimes it is true; a bad thing can escape the filter: that is our human fallenness. But when bad things predominate a person\u2019s life, yet they claim to be Christian, they are clearly deceived.<\/span><\/p>\n

If the general tenor of a person\u2019s life is evil, the source must be evil too, that is the heart. Just as there can be no break between the connection between a tree\u2019s fruit and the nature of the tree, so there can be no break between the constant flow of evil words and deeds in a person\u2019s life, and that person\u2019s heart. They stand in need of the new birth or they will be lost forever, whatever their claims may be.<\/span><\/p>\n

Where do you stand on the matter of roots and fruits?<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Luke 6 v 43. \u201cNo good tree bears bad fruit nor does a bad tree bear good fruit.\u201d In many ways this is a self-evident parable. The fruit of a tree is a fool-proof indication of what kind of tree it is. In the same way a person\u2019s actions, words and attitude are a fool-proof […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1324,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/frankretief.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/smoothy.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/frankretief.co.za\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1326"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/frankretief.co.za\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/frankretief.co.za\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/frankretief.co.za\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/frankretief.co.za\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1326"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/frankretief.co.za\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1326\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/frankretief.co.za\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1324"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/frankretief.co.za\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1326"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/frankretief.co.za\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1326"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/frankretief.co.za\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1326"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}