Fruit And The Father
LENT 2023 | DAY 26
Matthew 7:15-20 (NIV)
(Charis Lim, Chairperson, Digital Ministry)
READ:
Matthew 7:15-20 (NIV)
DAILY REFLECTION:
As a disciple of Christ, how do I produce good fruit in my life? The Psalmist declares that those who delight in the Lord are to be “people like trees planted in the House of the Lord…bearing fruit…whose leaves never wither”. (Psalm 1:3)
I’m reminded of the Fall where Adam and Eve’s calamitous choice to behold that one tree with its fruit led to the downfall of all of humanity. It’s interesting that the problem began when Adam and Eve started reaching for the fruit instead of the Father.
We can learn a lot from our children. When my son was a baby, I would play with him and help him to reach and grab toys. And I realised that putting the toy in his hands didn’t quite help him to grab hold of it well. His coordination was all over the place. After a few tries, I realised that instead of putting the toy in his hands, the trick was to put it in front of his eyes. I remember him lying on his cot and I would dangle a toy directly above his face. When he saw the toy, you could almost sense the desire forming in his brain and the intent saying, “hands go get it”! And suddenly, he would reach out with his hand and grab the toy! In catching the toy, he grabbed it first with his eyes. I’ve come to understand that babies reach with their eyes first.
There is a powerful spiritual lesson behind this simple observation. In my own discipleship journey, what am I reaching out for? What am I beholding? For whatever I behold, is going to dictate what I will become.
Original sin began when Adam and Eve started looking at the fruit and not the Father. Here’s the question: In my family life, work, ministry and all that God has called me to do, am I looking at what my hands can get hold of for my own benefit or are my eyes consumed with the one who makes me whole? God is saying to me, “What you behold, you will become”.
May my family, friends and community around me see God’s good fruits (the fruit of the Spirit) in me as I seek to be what the Psalmist exalts, “People like trees” whose eyes are firmly “planted” only on the Father. Amen.
FAMILY DISCUSSION POINTERS:
1. What are we reaching out for in our work, family life and ministry? Are we reaching for the Father?
2. What do our family, friends and community see in us? Do they see the bad fruit or the good fruit?
3. What aspects of the “Fruit of the Spirit” do people recognise in us?
