Your heart must be Godly to bear good fruit

Religion Columnist

While I often give some background about where I got the idea for my articles, because of the circumstances, I cannot do that this time. That being said, something happened that pleased me greatly and I made a connection between the event and some qualities of the heart of the person involved. So, I’m going to write about what I like in a heart.

First, I like a tender heart that cares for others (1 Peter 3:8). This heart takes care of itself (and the body of which it’s a part) so it can meet the needs of others with compassion (Philippians 2:1-5; Romans 12:9-16; Colossians 3:12-17; Galatians 6:9-10; Matthew 5:7).

Another heart quality I like is courage – the kind that stands its ground in the face of adversity, seemingly alone, because they know it’s right. I said “seemingly alone” because, while, to all those watching and against whom they may be standing, they may appear to be alone; but, they know they’re surrounded by the armies of God who’ll do his will to protect them (Deuteronomy 31:1-8; Joshua 1:2-9; 24:1, 14-18; 2 Kings 6:1-17; Matthew 26:47-53; 28:20; 2 Timothy 4:16-18). The brave of heart know that even if they aren’t delivered from physical or other harm or even death, they’ll be delivered from the second death and will spend eternity with God (John 16:33; Daniel 3:8-19; Revelation 2:8-11; 21:5-8; Matthew 5:10).

A third heart trait I like is the sound. I’m not referring to just the sound of the heartbeat, which I do like. I’m referring to the words of encouragement coming from the tender, courageous heart (Proverbs 17:22; 25:11-12; Ephesians 4:29). This is a gift from God (Romans 12:6-8). To have this quality, the person must guard their heart by making sure only wholesome thoughts are allowed to enter from their experiences (Proverbs 4:20-27; 1 Thessalonians 5:19-22). They know that what goes into the mind, controls the heart and comes out through their mouth and their actions (Matthew 12:33-37; 15:18-19; 6:22-23; 5:8).

While I cannot tell what brought all this to mind, I can tell what caused this person’s heart to have these qualities. They have a noble heart that, when it heard the word of God, it understood, accepted, and retained it so it can produce good fruit (Luke 8:11-15; Mark 4: 20; Matthew 13:23). As the nut doesn’t that fall far from the tree, they have set apart Jesus as Lord in their hearts allowing him the control produces the fruit of the Spirit (1 Peter 3:15; Galatians 3:26-4:7; 5:22-15). It doesn’t matter how tender-hearted a professed Christian is, if their faith isn’t acted out with courage, they won’t be saved from the second death because inactivity and fear are not good fruit (James 2:14-17; Matthew 21:18-22; 7:16-20; John 15:1-10; Galatians 6:7-8).

So, how’s your heart? Does it have the traits described in this article? As you’ve read from the scriptures cited in this article, you must have a Godly heart to bear good fruit.

Leonard Lauriault is a member of the Church of Christ in Logan. Contact him at [email protected]