February 12 – External Fruit (Psalm 1)

“He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.”(Psalm 1:3)

IN WORD:
God plants His Spirit within us — we have the eternal Son of God in our being by faith. When non-believers read the Gospels, the stories of Jesus ought to remind them of those of us who believe. The fact that there is sometimes little visible resemblance between the biblical Jesus and the Spirit dwelling in our flesh today is a tragedy. There should be in our character and lifestyle a clear & present correspondence to one controversial Galilean of ancient history.
God’s character is expressed in His works. What He does emanates fro His personality. He expects the same of us — our faith will result in works. The fruit of the Spirit is not just internally received, but externally expressed. God meets us in deep inward places, but He always leads us outward. His Spirit does not invade our being to remain hidden. We are the display of His glory, not its best-kept secret.
The one who realizes this — who has meditated on the life & law of god inscribed upon his heart — will be firmly established. He will be like a tree planted by streams of water. And there will be fruit. There’s no doubt about it: When the season is right, fruit will come, and the fruit will be good. Why? Because there is an infinitely rich, ever-flowing stream of water that nourishes this tree. It is not a tree that establishes itself; it is planted and tended by the living God.

IN DEED:
God calls us to be like Himself. His eternal character produced the purity of the Law, words of wisdom, the voice of the prophets, the saving work of Jesus, and the life of the church. What does our character produce? If it comes from God, it produces reflections of the very same themes. It produces the kind of prosperity that glorifies God and keeps us in His extravagant grace. It produces fruit that will last forever.

“Our actions disclose what goes on within us, just as its fruit makes known a tree otherwise unknown to us.”
-Thalassios the Libyan-