YING YANG
By Rick Mathes
Matthew 12:33
Either make the tree good, and its fruit good; or make the tree bad, and its fruit bad; for the tree is known by its fruit.
It’s only common sense that a tree that bears fruit that is sick, is probably dying. I can see with my own eyes the condition of the plant as well as the man. They both bear the signs of death, or life. The fruit does not lie. In other words, how you live is who you are. How you walk trumps how you talk.
Plants and men need water to ive but men take a step upward. He’s upgraded to living water which is the Word of God. And like a plant without water dies, so do men devoid of the Gospel. The Holy Spirit administers the Lord’s gospel into your parched soul through the Holy Writings from God’s own hand.
The spiritual vitality is obvious in the believer’s zeal for the Word. What can be more exciting than a new convert leaping into the arms of our precious Savior? The old life not only dies but becomes progressively repulsive in direct proportion to our growing love for Jesus. Let me warn you here that we leak this spiritual nourishment and must constantly replenish the living water so as not to lose our health and restraint of the evil one.
The best funeral you will ever attend is yours. I can recall my “born again” day like it happened yesterday. The death of your old life is a date to celebrate. I refuse to hang out with the old me. In fact I find who I was as very repulsive.
As a Father to a Son our Lord will prune us to strengthen our roots and maximize our spiritual energy through God the Spirit. That’s His job to chasten and prune. I praise the Lord that now I have a Daddy (Abba) that will take a belt to my butt when I have it coming.
And of course I want a Father that will put His tender arms around you and say, “I love you son!” That is abiding in Christ! That is being grafted into the root and the promise that He still sustains our spiritual growth with his vitality and zeal for the Gospel.
PRESS ON!
Rick Mathes 