Wednesday 28 Jun 2023

June 28: Matthew 7:15-20

Key Verse: Matthew 7:18
A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit.

Devotion:
One of the things I always try to look out for is this warning about false prophets… This seems to follow on from yesterdays reading about not feeding pearls to swine, but if you look back further it also links in to many reading and the one which prompted me to go in the direction we go today is about discerning the good from the bad especially if we have issues of our own – you know the plank in your eye reading…

Sometimes it is hard to spot the false prophets because they may well be able to say all the right things which you want to hear rather than what they should be saying. That pulls you into their web of deceit quicker than you realise and you swayed by their words.

God wants us to be wary of such people because of their cunning ways and because they sound so compelling. This to me is the definition of bad fruit, those ones which look so good but as soon as you bite into them you realise they are either rotten or sour! After you bite into them is a bit too late because you have already bitten and now you will have to put up with that bad taste!

God does not want us to be trapped into taking bad fruit and that is why He has made sure we have the bible and can always compare what people are saying to what we have in our bibles. God has told us His word will not change, but not all people who tell you about this word are actually giving you the full story. It is probably worse for someone to use a phrase or two to convince you rather than opening up the whole word of God. Trust in God’s Word, not in part, but in whole!

Points to Ponder:
Do you get easily swayed by fast talkers?

Will you take time to compare what people say with the whole Word of God?