Matthew 12:33-37 Look at the Fruit
Format for Your Devotions
Instructions: Do not read my example devotion until you have completed your own devotional time in the scriptures. Reading my thoughts first may limit your own understanding. Let the Holy Spirit speak to you alone before looking to see what anyone else has to say, whether it is me, a Bible commentary, or a friend. Let God speak to you before you let another person speak to you. I have provided a format, but modify it to fit your needs. For example, I usually combine my application and prayer together talking to God about the application to my own life. You can go through this devotion process mentally, speaking out loud, or in writing as you wish. Don’t worry if you are not following this process exactly. Sometimes, I add extra information and sometimes I emphasize one part more than others. However, you should always think about what you learn about God from this passage.
Step 1: Pray–Ask for the Holy Spirit’s guidance first of all and that God may reveal the lessons that He wants you to have that day. Request that God protect you from Satan’s distractions (and the devil will try to distract you whether it is pinching the baby or putting you to sleep). Ask to see God more clearly as you read and think about the passage.
Step 2: Read the passage–Read to get an overview of the information first. Then start looking at specific parts after the first reading. You may read a larger or smaller section than I have here because you do not have to follow my organization at all.
Step 3: Understand the passage–You can summarize, ask and answer your own questions about the passage, visualize the story, analyze the characters, and relate this passage to other scriptures and personal experiences.
Step 4: What does this reveal about God?–What do you learn about the Father, Son, and/or Holy Spirit from this passage?
Step 5: Apply this to your own life.
Step 6: Prayer
My Example Devotion: March 26, 2019, Matthew 12:33-37
Note: In the devotion examples, I leave my questions and thought processes in the text because I am trying to demonstrate that a devotional time is a dialogue with God about what you are reading from His word. As such, any questions or ideas that you have should be explored by talking it out with God. These example devotions are not my attempts to teach you what the meaning of a particular scripture is. They are an attempt to teach you the process of devotions, which is a combination of prayer and Bible study where you explore ideas with God as you read His word.
“Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad, for the tree is known by its fruit. You brood of vipers! How can you speak good, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. The good person out of his good treasure brings forth good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure brings forth evil. I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak, for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”
(Understanding the Text) The way that Matthew writes, I am not sure if this is a continuation with the confrontation with the Pharisees about the source of Jesus healing ability, or if this is just a related discourse thrown in because it seemed to be similar in topic. I’m going to assume that it is in the same incident. This means that this section started out with a man of no words being given the ability to speak and finishes with the warning that our words will be judged by God.
Jesus’ logic is that the Pharisees are trying to claim that He was a bad tree, but His reply is that the fruit of what He did was good, so it could only come from a good tree. If He were a bad tree, then His fruit would have been bad. Then Jesus points to the Pharisees’ fruit in the form of words. He says that their words are evil, and that evil words come from an evil heart.
Jesus points out that words are a symptom of what is inside. When people speak judgmental, mean words about others, it is because there is something mean and judgmental inside of them. When people speak kind and gentle words, that is also a reflection of a kind and gentle heart. It’s true that people can speak lying words that seem one way when the heart is another way; however, over time true words will come out of their mouth which reflect their character. In fact, Jesus says that it is our careless words that condemn us or exonerate us. These are the words that come out of our mouths without thought or planning.
(Revelation of God) Sometimes, I subconsciously have the thought that Jesus preplanned everything that He said. I’m sure that He did think about a lot of what He said before He said it. However, He was human as well as divine, and as such, there must have been a lot of casual conversations. He didn’t have to worry about putting His foot into His mouth like I do because His heart was already loving and giving. His casual words would have reflected that character.
(Application / Prayer) My application for myself is that I pray to have a kind gentle loving heart rather than a mean judgmental evil heart. I know that I have both within me now, but I ask to be transformed into the character of Christ so that I will speak the words that glorify God. I want my speech to glorify You.