Lush Full Life Giving Trees

Good Trees Full of Fruit!
Those Producing The Tree of Life Inside Daily!

By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Matthew 7: 16

In high school, I had to give a presentation in creative writing where we had to incorporate lots of physical non-verbal communication into our presentation, making it lively.

So I chose my topic on Scotland’s national flower—the thistle—and the story behind it. I told the story of why it was chosen. That during conflict people on the opposing side would step on thistles and hurt their feet because thistles have sharp, pokey, stingy leaves. I re-enacted hurting my feet and thereby losing the surprise and then the conflict due to thistle.

So when I read this I think yes!
They will know me by my fruit, love!!!
For God is love.
And Jesus gave up His life due to His love for us, to save us!

For thornbushes are covered with thorns and are pokey and painful.
And so are thistles.

He is telling us that we will know that we are saved, as we will have been changed and those around us, by our new hearts and new spirits.

That those people who have the fruit of grapes—Jesus’s blood sacrifice, forgiveness living inside them—won’t be pokey, thorny, hurting people as they brush by them.
Because we are full of humility in knowing we needed to be forgiven.

Those of us who already believe in Jesus have the Holy Spirit.
He is the proof of our faith—fruit of our faith—the figs Jesus is mentioning above.
Jesus uses the fruit of figs because they are densely jammed packed full of seeds.
(My Dad planted them everywhere we lived and it was because they were so full of seeds that I wouldn’t eat them.)
But the point Jesus is making is that we will be full of seeds, seeds of faith, faith in His love, faith of His truth, faith in His ways.
Seeds that we will then go and give out, that will spread, just like plants do in nature.
That we will be sowing the seeds of love, not being pokey and sharp like thistles to those around us.

That those of us who have received forgiveness, the Holy Spirit living inside us are changed with the new heart, the new Spirit of God.

For knowing we are truly forgiven all our trespasses is the new heart in us producing gratitude, love inside us to give out all around us

And the New Spirit, God’s Spirit is the sound mind, the mind of Christ, to know His perfect ways of living in love to those around us and to ourselves.

So people will really know us by our fruit, our new nature, love.

May we know that we know that we know we have proof of our salvation—those of us who have believed and received Jesus Christ as Lord—of our eternal forgiveness simply by our heart wanting to be love to more people around us.

May we know that we know that we know if we have not yet received Jesus as Lord, we can do that right now, by simply calling on His name. He is just that generous and faithful.

love kathlynn