My kids won’t eat a brown banana. They don’t like a peach or an apple with a bruise. They really like fruit that looks good. I have to admit that I like good looking fruit too! I guess that proves the saying that the fruit doesn’t fall far from the tree! We all know that fruit can be under ripe and hard or bitter, or it can be over ripe and soft and oversweet, or even fermented and moldy. Under ripe, green bananas taste like cardboard. An under ripe apple can be very sour, and could make you spend a lot of time in the bathroom —- if you know what I mean. The best kind of fruit we like to eat, is fruit that is perfectly ripe, and beautiful!
In the life of your family, is the fruit falling close to the tree? Remember your kids don’t do what you tell them, they do what you do! Set a good example. Operate in the fruit of the spirit, and make your family and home life the best it can be. If you’ve been fruitful and multiplied (!!), let’s do our best with the lives God has entrusted to us. If we produced perfectly ripe, beautiful fruit from our lives, it is very likely your kids will have all the tools they need to produce perfectly, ripe, beautiful fruit from their lives too.
Actualize all that potential – It starts with a seed!
John 15:4-11
4 While a large crowd was gathering and people were coming to Jesus from town after town, he told this parable: 5 “A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path; it was trampled on, and the birds ate it up. 6 Some fell on rocky ground, and when it came up, the plants withered because they had no moisture. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up with it and choked the plants. 8 Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up and yielded a crop, a hundred times more than was sown.”
When he said this, he called out, “Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.”
9 His disciples asked him what this parable meant. 10 He said, “The knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of God has been given to you, but to others I speak in parables, so that,
“‘though seeing, they may not see;
though hearing, they may not understand.’[a]
11 “This is the meaning of the parable: The seed is the word of God. 12 Those along the path are the ones who hear, and then the devil comes and takes away the word from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. 13 Those on the rocky ground are the ones who receive the word with joy when they hear it, but they have no root. They believe for a while, but in the time of testing they fall away. 14 The seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by life’s worries, riches and pleasures, and they do not mature. 15 But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop.
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