Good in Our Heart

Apples, oranges, bananas, grapes, watermelon, cantaloupe, etc.  There is a wide variety of fruit, and yet they all have one thing in common, they are meant to be enjoyed!  Our families taste buds enjoys strawberries more than any other fruit.  Unlike many foods that our children complain and grumble about, when strawberries are brought to the table everyone makes their excitement known.  God desires for us to bear fruit with our lives for the blessing and enjoyment of others as well.  The fruit of our lives will either leave a sweet or rotten taste in the mouths of others.  What type of fruit is your life producing?

READ: Luke 6:43-45

Although we are all born “bad apples”, it is possible for the fruit of our lives to change. A transformed heart where the Spirit of God dwells has a new supernatural ability to produce good fruit.  With God living inside of us we have a good heart, and a GOOD heart produces GOOD fruit!  Galatians 5:22 says, “the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self control.”  When God dwells inside our hearts, when He is our treasure, our lives will overflow with righteousness that is designed for others to taste and enjoy.  What types of good fruit comes out of our lives as a result of having a good heart?  

READ: 2 Thessalonians 2:16-17

Paul prays that God would establish the Thessalonian’s hearts.  The word “establish” means to cause someone to become stronger in the sense of being more firm or unchanging.  It’s like anchoring a fence post in the ground with cement so that it can’t move.  God is at work establishing our hearts for two specific purposes . . .

A God-established heart produces good WORKS (2 Thes. 2:17) – Most of us are not fans of work.  Work is exhausting, boring, tedious, and hard.  And yet, God create us to work (Gen. 2:15).  One significant purpose of our lives is doing work that not only benefits us but others as well.  Bearing the fruit of good works is hard, and yet, God is the one who gives us the strength to do this work day after day after day.  Titus 3:8, 14 says that we are to, “devote (ourselves) to good works. These things are excellent and profitable for people . . . so as to help cases of urgent need, and not be unfruitful”.  Our lives produce good fruit when we do something that profits someone else. Our lives produce good fruit when do something to helps satisfy a need in someone else’s life.  Such good works require the hard work of self-sacrifice, unselfishness, and humility, but the God who dwells in our heart will give us all the strength and endurance we need to do them and continue doing them!

A God-established heart produces good WORDS (2 Thes. 2:17) – According to James 3:10 our tongue has unlimited potential to bless or curse others. We all know and understand that our words set the tone of our relationships with others.  Bearing the fruit of good words will bring encouragement, inspiration, and joy to those who hear.  Ephesians 4:29 says, “let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.”  In any and every situation we are in, we must be careful to use our words for the purpose of building others up and never tearing them down.  God wants to speak good through you into the lives of others, He can’t do it when our words are rotten.

CONCLUSION
Luke 8:15 says, “as for that in the good soil, they are those who, heart the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience.”   Those whose hearts have received the word of God, those whom have received a spiritual heart transplant, those in whom the Spirit of God dwells, will bear good fruit with their lives.  It will be natural outgrowth of who we are.  In Christ, we are no longer bad trees who can only bear bad fruit, we are good trees who bear good fruit.  Goodness is one of the marks of a changed life.  And the fruit of a changed life will have a deep impact on the lives of all those around them.  What good godly fruit are you bearing in life that puts your good heart on display?