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MEDITATION:

Adapted from a devotion written by Mark D. Roberts, a contemporary Christian speaker,  author, and principle writer of the “Life for Leaders” daily devotion from De Pree Center at Fuller Seminary.

When we moved into our home in Pasadena, we knew we had several citrus trees in the backyard. But we didn’t know exactly what kind of citrus trees they were. Finally, when the time was right, our trees bore their distinctive kind of fruit, and then we knew exactly what sorts of trees we had. (In case you’re curious, we have several lemon trees, one orange tree, and one tangerine tree, as well as a peach tree that showed up unannounced in our front yard.)

If you want to know what kind of tree you have, you need to pay attention to its fruit. The same is true if you want to know what kind of life you’re living. Are you living a good life? Then you’ll see it in your fruit. The opposite is true as well. Bad living is correlated with bad fruit. Fruit, in this case, is a way of talking about our behavior, about what we’re producing by being alive. So, this leads to an obvious question. What is your fruit? If you were to add up all that you’re doing in life – what you do for work, how you act in relationships, where you put your money, how you spend your time, and so on – what kind of fruit is growing on your tree?  If your family, friends, neighbors, and co-workers were to be given a dose of truth serum such that they had to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth, how would they answer this question: What is the fruit of your life? What is your life producing? What difference are you making in this world? I believe that, for most of us, the fruit of our lives is a mixed bag. Some of our fruit is good; some is bad. We need to be honest about this. God will use our honesty to help us shift the balance in the favor of good fruit. Soon we’ll learn how this happens, according to Jesus.

PRAYER:

This prayer is based on Galatians 5:22 and is from the Daily Prayer Guide website. 

Father God, you are the giver of all good things. I pray to ask you to give me the fruits of the Spirit. Help me to love, be full of joy, peace, and patience. Help me be kind, good, faithful, and gentle when dealing with others. And finally, give me the self-control to bear the fruit so others can see. Amen.