By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them. Matthew 7:16-20 (NIV)
Unhealed wounds create the perfect opportunity for seeds to be sown that create bad fruit many years later. We will reap what we have sown. One tiny apple seed planted in the ground will produce an entire tree filled with fruit. Good seeds like kindness produce good fruit; and bad seeds like resentment produce bad fruit. We can recognize the original seed that was sown by the fruit that is being produced. Many people are unaware that the root issues in their life today, is the result of seeds planted years ago. Jesus made it very easy to see our root issues as He taught how to recognize bad fruit.
Jesus said in Mathew 7:16, “You will fully recognize them by their fruits…” We can look at the bad fruit in our lives or the re-occurring problems to identify what needs to be uprooted. In Matthew 7:16-20, Jesus uses a tree to explain the principle of getting to the root of bad fruit or recurring problems.
To get to the root issues we must track from the fruit (today) back to the root (when it first began).
The fruit reveals areas of the heart that need healing.
The trunk of the tree is the built-in structure or habits that keep the root issues producing bad fruit (Matthew 7:16-20).
Have you ever felt the pain of rejection? Most people have.
Jesus also experienced rejection from His own people.
“He came to His own people and his own received him not.” John 1:11
He felt the pain of rejection from every relationship.
“Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.” Luke 23:34
On the cross, He cried…
“Father, why have you forsaken me?” Matthew 27:46
He felt all of our pain at that moment. However, His last words were “It is finished.” John 19:30
Our acceptance was completely paid for by Jesus on the cross. After suffering on our behalf, Jesus was taken up by Father God and seated at His right hand in the heavenly places. If Christ is in you, then you have been accepted by God as one of His children. You too are seated in the heavenly places.
“And he raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” Ephesians 2:6
“To the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.”Ephesians 1:6
In Christ, you are no longer forsaken, no longer rejected; you are fully accepted in Him!
“Oh, Magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together.” Psalm 34:3
Have you noticed the increase in the opportunities to be offended? Even after 25 years of marriage to my husband, I sometimes get offended by what he says. As a wife, I may know he doesn’t mean something the way I took it, but I still feel a huge pull to be offended. I believe in the day we are living, the days prior to the return of the Lord, there will be a greater pull than ever before to be offended. Jesus taught us in Mathew 18:7 that offenses will surely come. In Mathew 24, when the disciples asked Jesus what the signs of His return would be, He said in verse 10, “And then shall many be offended…” So we should not be surprised when we feel the pull to be offended. The question is: how fast do you move past an offense? Jesus made it possible for us to be able to move past offenses very quickly.
I must constantly remind myself that we are in “the time,” the days before Jesus returns. Paul said in 2 Thessalonians 2:3, that there would be a great falling away in these days. I believe the falling away is due to being offended. If your love waxes cold according to Mathew 24, you will fall away.
I know when I am offended, I must quickly forgive. Forgiveness is the only answer! It is the way of escape! The quicker I forgive, the quicker I come back into my right mind. When I am offended my soul is in control. When I forgive, my spirit rises up above my soul and takes back over.
I have learned that when I am offended everything is distorted and even my emotions become out of control. When I am offended at a person I will see them in a distorted way, bigger than they really are. I will become overly focused on them. They become the center of attention and all I talk about for days. Every conversation even goes back somehow to what offended me.
The more we put our focus on those who offended us, the more magnified they become. This could cause our heart to wax cold and may lead us to sin against God. He is the only one we are to magnify. When we focus on others and what they did to offend us, we make them bigger than God.
Oh, Magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together. (Psalm 34:3).
So right now press the minimize button and minimize the person who has offended you. Bring them down to the right size and forgive them. Remember, if it were not for the grace of God you might have done the very same thing
Casting a burden upon the Lord means you turn the burden over and release it to Him. Every burden has a weight, and some are heavier than others. The Lord knows we can only carry a burden for a short amount of time before we begin to slip and fall under the weight of it. God calls us to bear one another’s burdens only long enough to bring them to Him. Remember, the Lord will not put more on you than you can carry.
If you are weary, it is time to cast your burden upon the Lord. He says, “Come unto me all ye that are weak and heavy laden (weighted down) and I will give you rest, my yoke is easy and my burden is light. As you rest, learn of me, and find rest for your soul.”
You will know you have cast the burden down when you begin to experience His rest. So why not enter into His rest today?
You may look to your place of birth and the family you grew up in to find out who you are. Whether you were born into a rich home, or born into poverty, it doesn’t really matter. Your family background does not define who you are. Your family background is simply the ground in which you were planted. This is why we are referred to as “Oaks of Righteousness” in Isaiah 61. Now, who are you?
As a little girl, I would go to visit my grandfather every summer. He lived in a big beautiful home in the mountains, a stately mansion with two boxwood trees as an archway you passed through at the entrance. As our car traveled up the winding road I felt my excitement rising. I felt like I was going to see the most important man, a statesman, a King. My grandfather was that impressive to me. He was very wise, kind, and I admired him and loved to visit with him. He enjoyed having company, and if he knew we were coming, he would stand on the porch watching for us to arrive. A visit with him in his big, white, stately house made me feel like I was somebody special. If he was important, then I must be somebody important too.
A number of years ago I traveled up the same winding road, but this time everything was different. My grandfather was gone and the excitement of seeing him standing on the porch was no longer felt. It had been almost ten years since I had seen the old home and walked up the steps of the big house where he lived. The same road that, as a child seemed to go on forever, was actually just a little “one lane” gravel road. As the house came into view, I realized it was also different than what I remembered. What a shock! The big mansion on the mountain was so little; just a farm house sitting on the side of a hill.
This experience began a journey for me that I now titled: “The Journey From the Little House to the Big House”. It is a teaching on how we travel from our family of origin to find who we really are. I began this journey that day, searching for my true identity, worth, and purpose in life. If my grandfather wasn’t really a statesman living in a mansion, then who was I? If he was just a farmer in a little farmhouse, as his granddaughter, who am I?
Even within the same family, each person must discover their true identity apart from their family. Our true identity is not earthly it is heavenly. We were God’s plan in the first place. God created each of us differently, as a unique expression of his handiwork. Our life is a beautiful, hand woven tapestry with thousands of stitches all carefully placed in a design.
Early in life, our tapestry is a lot of different colored threads. However, as time goes on and we lay our life into the Father’s hands, He gently weaves the threads of our life together and a beautiful tapestry is revealed. Each tapestry God weaves is a “one of a kind” and He has a different purpose in mind for each unique design. When you finally find out who God says you are, you are a tapestry to be used in His house. God’s house, His kingdom on earth; is the “Big House.” It is a dwel ling place of peace, as you embrace and live in who He says you are. He loves what He creates; He has a plan and purpose for each unique creation.
For me, those wonderful days at my grandfather’s house planted a desire in me to find the “Big House”. I have found it, and it is grand. Now I know I am somebody special, because I know who He says I am.
