“For no good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit, for each tree is known by its own fruit. For figs are not gathered from thornbushes, nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush. The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.”

Luke 6:43-45

A few weeks ago, my son-in-law sent a photo of a lemon. Lemons are quite ordinary for most of us, but this particular lemon came from the lemon tree in their back yard. Now what would have been interesting is if the lemon tree produced a lime, right?

But there’s more to the story. The good person in the parable above is a person who is dependent on Christ’s redemptive work and is surrendered to the Holy Spirit. A good tree produces good fruit.

In Galatians, Paul describes some of the Godly characteristics of good fruit –

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.”

Galatians 5:22-23

Just before those verses, Paul contrasts the fruit of the Spirit with the actions of a life that is not surrendered to God –

“Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.”

Galatians 5:19-21

Our lives are all bearing one kind of fruit or another, good or bad.