TUESDAY: WHICH FRUIT AM I EATING?

Aug 16, 2022
2 min read

Lord, it’s hard for me to deal with the hand I’ve been dealt today. I want to learn to follow You and accept Your perspective, since You know what is best for me today.

Colossians 3:8-14

But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all. Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

Everyone has problems. So, how do I deal with what life gives me? When I focus on Christ, it is like eating fruit from the Tree of Life. It is healthy for building my relationship with Christ and with others. When I focus on earthly things, I may gain knowledge of good and evil, but I lose my focus on my relationship with Christ.

This passage describes the effects of eating fruit that is holy versus fruit that poisons my life. A holy diet consists of compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, patience, and forgiveness, while a diet of poisoned fruit includes anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk.

Love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony, is at the root of the tree which produces healthy fruit that focuses on Christ. At the root of the other tree, we do not find love, but the absence of it. The fruit from that tree is poisonous in its deception and will destroy relationships.

THINK ABOUT THESE THINGS: If I lie, I’m not deceiving God or anyone who knows His truth, so I am really only deceiving myself by thinking that this poisonous fruit is good for me. When I encounter this poisonous fruit in my life, I start searching for my way back to God. Jesus said He is the Way. The poisonous fruit brings a separation in my life from Christ, so I must learn to recognize fruit that is poisonous, cast it aside, and begin to intentionally eat good fruit which will help me be proactive in my walk with Christ.

Lord, please guide and direct me in my dietary choices. I only desire to eat fruit which is healthy for my soul. Today, I will choose to serve You, praise You, and follow Your instructions in relating to other people in my life, so I can be thankful.

May you be blessed,

Chaplain Wayne Ruckman