Thurs.’s Devo - Good Fruit

Read Luke 3:7-14 John came preaching repentance followed by baptism, but when the people came to be baptized he rebuked them. He was in essence saying: baptism is not for those who are just trying to escape judgment. Baptism is for those who are willing to change their ways and produce righteous fruits for the kingdom of God. God is not looking for numbers, he can create as many people as he wants; he is looking for good fruit. So the people asked him how they could produce this good fruit. John’s reply was to give when you see a need. When the publicans came and asked the same question they got a different answer. They already gave to the poor. For them the answer was to not ask for more money than was fair. When the soldiers came asking the question of what to do John told them not to act out of violence, nor to accuse people wrongly, and to be content with their wages. They were trained to fight, but there was a way to do it righteously. They were not to falsely rat on their fellow officers to get them in trouble to advance their own cause. The last one was a little closer to home: to be content with their rations. How often do we hear ourselves and others complain about their salaries. If we realized that God was our boss and it was he who decided how much we got payed we might start working on our hearts rather than our mouths to get a raise. The whole point was, everyone has a different answer to “what do we need to do to produce good fruit ”. We all come with different issues that we need to let God address and cleanse us of so we can be baptized into his family. It doesn’t stop when we get saved. These issues continue to be a point of keeping us back from the things God has for us, or advancing us further into his kingdom. Every time we win a battle we get to promote to the next one. The battles get harder but the victories are just a easy to win because we are fit for the task. Lord, let us set our hearts to produce good fruit for your kingdom.