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Day 6-Matthew 7

Hey guys! Alright, time to wrap up the Sermon on the Mount. I did not have a chance to write any more on Matthew 6 today; not sure if I ever will, but I want to go through it again someday. Maybe when I finish the challenge I will come back to passages I want to highlight more! We'll have to see! :)

Before today ends, I'd like to share with you my thoughts from Matthew 7. Again, there are so many things I would love to touch on, but my time is limited. So for now, I'll focus on verses 15-20: "A Tree and Its Fruit". There are so many things to say about this, but I'll stick with just one.

This is a tough topic I think because it has revealed some things about myself that I realize I need to change. Now I know that these verses say to watch for false prophets whose lives may seem committed to Christ but they show no signs of that commitment. But I think it means more than just nonbelievers; I think that it applies in some way to Christians as well. I think that God's Word tells us as Christians that our lives should be bearing fruit and that others should be able to see if we are Christians by how we act. Do we bear fruit that shows our faith in Christ? I know I don't all the time. We are to be imitators of Christ, but are we really imitating His example? Something I have struggled with for a long time is the discipline of spending time with God and reading His Word daily. This is necessary to grow in my relationship with Christ, yet I don't follow through. If I'm not spending time with God and spending time in His Word, how am I supposed to be showing others the growth I've experienced in my life? The answer is: I can't. My life won't show fruit if I'm not cultivating the fruit and doing what is necessary to help it grow. I pray that this journey through God's Word will help me to grow in my relationship with Him and will allow me to bear fruit and be an example to those around me.

We sing a song at our church sometimes, and the last two lines of the verses I think are a good way of concluding my post for today. The song "They'll Know we are Christians" says that those around us will know that we are Christians by our love, by our example of our own lives. I encourage you, as well as myself, to bear the fruit of Christ in your lives, to live out the Fruit of the Spirit (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control) in your lives.




(PS: I will be at youth camp this week, starting tomorrow, and will not have access to a computer. I'll give you a few hi-lites next Saturday when I get home about my week at camp and some of the things God taught me from the chapters I read! Keep reading one chapter a day with me, even if I can't share my thoughts for a little while!)

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