A TREE IS KNOWN BY ITS FRUIT Luke 6:43
Jesus used the illustration of a tree to remind us that fruit is always true to its character. An apple tree can only produce apples, not oranges, therefore a good person produces the good from within their heart, not evil.
The heart, the center of our being, determines our outward behavior and deeds and must be changed or converted. Without that inward change, no one can do God’s will. The heart in Scripture is the totality of intellect, emotion, desire, and volition. An impure heart will corrupt one’s thoughts, feelings, words, and actions.
For we speak and act from the overflow of our hearts.
Contemporary people consider the head with its brain the center and the director of human activity. However, the Bible speaks of the heart as the center; “out of it are the issues of life” (Prov. 4:23; Luke 6:45).
People consider things in their heart (Deut. 85), meditate in their heart (Ps. 19:14), commune with themselves (Ps. 77:6) or with God (1 Sam. 1:12-13) in their heart, hide God’s word in their heart (Ps. 119:11), keep things in their heart (Prov. 4:21), imagine things in their heart (Ps. 140:2, reason in their heart (Mark 2:8), doubt in their heart (Mark 11:23), ponder in their heart (Luke 2:19), believe in their heart (Rom. 10:9), and sing in their heart (Eph. 5:19). All of these actions of the heart are primarily issues involving the mind.
An impure heart will corrupt one’s thoughts, feelings, words, and actions. Jesus reminds us that our speech and actions reveal underlying beliefs, attitudes, and motivations. The good impressions we try to make cannot last if our hearts are deceptive. Righteousness is produced only in a person’s life due to righteousness in the heart.
For we speak and act from the overflow of our hearts.
Blessings,
Presiding Elder Barbara Hayes
LAB | WSB | FLSB | TEBC
The Church Within You! 