2. I come before you, oh Lord, and
drink in this moment of peace,
that I may carry something of
your hope, love, and joy today in
my heart. Lord, grant me
tenacious winsome courage as I
go through this day. When I am
tempted to give up, help me to
keep going. Grant me a cheerful
spirit when things don't go my
way.
3.
4. A Tree and Its Fruit
43 “No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad
tree bear good fruit. 44 Each tree is recognized by
its own fruit. People do not pick figs from
thornbushes, or grapes from briers. 45 A good
man brings good things out of the good stored up
in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out
of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth
speaks what the heart is full of.
5. The Wise and Foolish Builders
46 “Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not
do what I say? 47 As for everyone who comes to
me and hears my words and puts them into
practice, I will show you what they are
like. 48 They are like a man building a house, who
dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock.
6. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house
but could not shake it, because it was well
built. 49 But the one who hears my words and
does not put them into practice is like a man who
built a house on the ground without a foundation.
The moment the torrent struck that house, it
collapsed and its destruction was complete.”
9. This passage talks about good and evil, and that may be
a difficult message to hear. Some people claim to have
faith but do not live out of it, and the proof is in what
they produce.
Our actions result from our character, revealing what is
really in our hearts. The consequences of our actions
cannot be hidden from God, even though we may try to
disguise this from others.
10. In this Gospel passage, Jesus uses two easily understood images
to make an important point about the consequences of our
actions. The first comes from a garden. No one would hope to
find tasty figs on a thorn tree or luscious grapes on a bramble
bush. The sort of person that I am profoundly influences the
way that I act. For this reason becoming a good person is the
most important object of my life. And this is not something
that I can do without divine assistance
11. The second image is from the construction industry. When the
chosen people moved into the Promised Land after forty years
as desert nomads, and tents were adequate for their needs, they
had to do things differently. Their buildings now required firm
foundations otherwise they would fall. While we should be
serious about the buildings where we spend our short years in
this world, we should be even more serious about where we are
going to spend eternity.
