I hope you all had a fantabulous Thanksgiving filled with, well, thanks.
Duh.
Ours was wonderful as we traveled to my home city to visit my amazing mother…love that woman.
Anyhoo.
Over break Brandon mentioned to me that I have been a slackerface (yep, he SOOO used that term [those of you who know Brandon know I am lying. A lot. He would never use that term]) with this blog. He then declared that he would write some things on the days that I slack off.
I agreed.
He was shocked. But I was serious. He is a great writer who is insightful, hilarious, and all around awesome.
So blog people?
If you notice I am missing and all of a sudden my husband shows up in my place? You’ll know why. He is picking up my slack for me.
Anyway.
Welcome back to another edition of Manna Monday.
It’s been awhile.
Life has a way of taking me away from leisurely activities (such as blogging), so even though I wanted to be writing? Not possible.
So here I am finally again on a Manna Monday.
And what is today’s topic?
Genuine fruit.
When I have longer times to actually think instead of just function like a robot, then I really get a good look at myself.
This break I was able to see several areas of my life that I am really ashamed of.
Sometimes I pass of my bluntness as ‘OK’ because afterall, I am being honest, right?
But is that really right?
And sometimes I think that it is ‘OK’ to be impatient because afterall, I have very important things to do.
But this (among many other things) are disheartening to me.
Why?
Because it is bad fruit. Matthew chapter 7 discusses the tree.
When you look at the trunk of an apple tree without apples on it, would you know it was an apple tree?
How about a pear tree. Would you know it was a pear tree if there were no pears on it?
I know I wouldn’t.
It is the fruit that grows on the tree that proclaims what type of tree it is.
In fact, once the fruit grows, it is painfully obvious what you are looking at.
Our own lives are just like that.
The ‘fruit’ we bear, or the actions that we portray to others are our fruit.
When we have the ‘fruits’ of the Spirit, such as patience and gentleness, kindness and self control, we are showing the God’s Spirit lives in us.
It is living so vibrantly inside that we are growing that fruit and showing it to the world.
But when we let bitterness, selfishness, anger, unkindness, etc. fester inside us, it is like a disease.
Instead of good fruit, rotten fruit will start to grow.
We will no longer be the juicy, ripe fruit that people want.
We will be the fruit that will make them sick if they have it.
If you put a rotten piece of fruit on top of a good piece of fruit, what will eventually happen?
The mold that is on the bad fruit will pass over to the good fruit and make it bad too.
The bad fruit we bear will start to rot those around us if we aren’t careful and we will affect their Spiritual life as well.
Instead, I want to be that person that is so full of the Spirit, my good fruit is alive and well and attracts those around me to it.
They will want to know how they can have what I have.
They will want to know Christ.
**Looking for other Manna Monday posts? Click the 'manna monday' link right below this post.**
