Fruit
Day 441, Sunday, Oct. 26
Matthew 12:22 – 13:52
As with Wednesday’s reading, we get some advice today on how to recognize a Christian.
Jesus says that the mouth speaks what the heart is full of. It isn’t words that make a person good or bad, but it is words that reflect and reveal what is in the person’s heart.
In other words, what a person says and does show what they are on the inside. God can see into a person’s heart directly; we can see only indirectly through the evidence of words and actions.
In 12:33 we read, “Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is recognized by its fruit.”
We pray that God will change and shape us so that the fruit we produce will be good.

-Rev. Mark Fleming

Sunday meditation

Psalms 18:1-6
I love you, Lord, my strength.
The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
I called to the Lord, who is worthy of praise, and I have been saved from my enemies. The cords of death entangled me; the torrents of destruction overwhelmed me. The cords of the grave coiled around me; the snares of death confronted me.
In my distress I called to the Lord; I cried to my God for help. From his temple he heard my voice; my cry came before him, into his ears.

Prayer focus
God, make me good.