Bad Fruit-----Good Fruit

Romans 6:21
What fruit did you have in the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death.

Fruit?
Well, that could mean several things. We read about the fruit of the Spirit of God in Galatians 5:22-23. In this regards, it's talking about positive character traits that are born in those who are living and walking with Christ daily. Fruit is evidence of the kind of tree it is. Apple trees produce apples because they are apple trees. Followers of Jesus produce integrity and moral uprightness because they are followers of Jesus. I think maybe we somehow have gotten the idea that such is something we have to work at No! It is the by product of cooperating with God's Holy Spirit, as He works in each of us. Philippians 2:13 reads For it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure. The Kingdom will of God is played out in the lives of everyone who are following Jesus. God is at work in us. Changing our hearts......changing the way we view life....changing our desires.....transforming our minds. The fruit that people should see is the behavior that has changed. We no longer live according to that old sin/nature, but rather are following the directives of Jesus. 

Not to be outdone, the devil (as pitiful as it may seem) seeks to copy what Christ is doing. If Jesus is producing fruit in our lives........then the devil wants to do the same. Only his fruit is not of the kind variety. What would be some of the fruit that was evidence that he was at work in us?
How about lying.
Stealing.
Rejection of anything and everything to do with God.
Sexual misconduct.
And the list could go on and on and on.
End result in all of this "rotten" fruit we exhibit is death. I checked the word "death" out in Strong's Concordance and it means exactly what we think it does. The end of life. "But wait a minute Michael---don't we all die at some point?" Yes we do. It isn't so much the act of death itself as it is the finality of it. If a person hasn't accepted the free gift of salvation (Romans 6:23) before they die, then their fate is sealed. They will spend eternity separated from God.  We cannot do anything, in and of ourselves, to change this. Only acceptance of God's offer of salvation....the confession / repentance of our sin (Our complete independence from God) and the acknowledgement of Jesus as our Lord and Savior will place us in right standing and relationship with Jesus.
Changing the old ways  into new.
Old tree (sin nature) will be uprooted and replaced with a new tree that will produce the fruit of God's Holy Spirit.
Things to ponder this morning....
What kind of fruit do others see when they look at you?

God on you...
mb