There are two readings for today.
SCRIPTURE: Psalm 7
OBSERVATION/APPLICATION:
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. [Matthew 12:33]
Jesus says the outward lifestyle will reveal the inward heart.
The psalmist holds up his life before God and indicates that he has lived a ‘blameless’ life.
He claims to be a good tree, with good fruit.
My sense is not that he is sinless, but that it is obvious to him (and to those who know him) that he has done his best not to be cruel, hurtful, selfish, deceptive, etc.
His heart is upright, which does not mean that he is sinless, but that he strives for God’s honour with all his might to do the right thing.
Can you say that?
Whoever is pregnant with evil conceives trouble and gives birth to disillusionment. Whoever digs a hole and scoops it out falls into the pit they have made. The trouble they cause recoils on them; their violence comes down on their own heads. [Psalm 7:14-16]
David is not talking about people in general, but people who are publicly, visibly cruel, hurtful, selfish, deceptive.
They are pregnant with evil, they constantly give birth to immoral, wicked stuff.
The fruit on their branches is obvious.
No one is sinless, but you can tell by looking at a person, and by listening to how they speak, and observing their priorities in action, what lives deep within them.
You can tell a person that is motivated by love and selflessness, and you can tell a person that is motivated by self-love and selfishness.
Jesus did not need to be divine to know that the religious leaders who were accusing and opposing him were self-absorbed and selfish, and cruel to those who were below them.
You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of. A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him. [Matthew 12:33-35]
They were pregnant with selfishness, and it was showing on their branches.
The issue here is not sinlessness, let’s just accept that we all fail and fall in many ways.
But the question is, what is the predominant fruit on your branches?
What do people sense primarily in you – selfish or selfless, generous or greedy, truthful or deceptive, sincere or fake, committed to other’s good or committed to personal gain, self-effacing or self-promoting?
In this Psalm David holds his own branches up to God (Psalm 7:3-5).
Can you pray this prayer… will you… will I?
PRAYER:
Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. [Psalm 139:23-24]