Devotional thoughts for Monday

Monday 13. October 2014 

Trinity 17 

Jesus said: "Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad, for the tree is known by its fruit. The good person out of his good treasure brings forth good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure brings forth evil." (Matthew 12,33.35, ESV) 

Jesus tells us that a people's works are dictated by the sort of people they are, just like trees. Apple trees produce apples, and orange trees produce oranges. Apple trees cannot produce oranges, nor orange trees apples. The nature of the tree determines what fruit it produces. The same is true for people. If a people are good, then they produce good works, but if people are evil, then they produce wicked works. 

So the question is: what makes someone good or evil? Every single person born is born evil, for it is our sinful nature. None of us is a good person. The only way for us to become good is to have a change of heart, and only the Holy Spirit can make an evil person into a good person. But this is not an issue of morality or virtues. Rather, the Holy Spirit gets the gospel proclaimed to us, and when we have heard that gospel, He creates faith in us and we thus become a new person. An exchange occurs. Jesus takes our sinfulness and gives us His righteousness. This great exchanged happened on the cross, and every time the gospel is proclaimed and someone believes that gospel that exchange occurs. 

So as Christians who believe in Jesus, we can but only do good works. That is not to say that we never sin and do bad things, but our entire nature has been changed. We are children of God and heirs to His reign. We have been made holy and as such our works are good. And it is not as if we consciously think about our works, for they naturally flow from our faith in Jesus. The Holy Spirit ensures that we are doing good works from faith to benefit our neighbor. 

Prayer: O God, the Protector of all who trust in You, without whom nothing is strong and nothing is holy, multiply Your mercy upon us so that, with You as our Ruler and Guide, we may so pass through things temporal so that we lose not the things eternal; through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, One God, now and forever.  Amen. (H63, Treasury of Daily Prayer)