December 17 – There’s no fooling God

The good person out of the good treasury of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasury produces evil, for his mouth speaks from what fills his heart. (Luke 6:45 NET)

You’ve heard that famous quote from Abe Lincoln, “You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time.”  There’s another truth that needs to be added to that.  You can never fool God.  Ever.  

In this chapter, Jesus teaches about knowing a tree by the fruit it bears.  It’s what is hidden deep inside a person that reveals itself eventually, through words, behavior and reactions.  A false Christian can parade around as holy and faithful, but in time their hidden attitudes of the flesh will surface and be seen.  On the other hand, there can exist among us new believers who are still rough around the edges.  They don’t look the part yet, but the purity of their love for God shines through.  The wise can spot their sincere hearts, while the unwise are still caught up in judging by traditional appearances.  Jesus wants us to be wise and have spiritual eyes to see the good fruit in others, and be aware of the kind of fruit we bear ourselves.  That fruit strengthens and refreshes us and sustains our relationship with God.

It’s funny that false Christians even bother to go through the exhausting act of pretending to be a “good tree.”  All of that effort to impress others is worthless if in the end they’re swallowed up into hell.  How much consolation is it to know that they fooled everyone while they were alive?  Let’s be true to what we claim to believe.  Either be honest about your mistakes and sins and seek out help or deliverance, or just state the plain truth that you are faithless and don’t want to change.  In Jesus’ letter to the Laodicean church in Revelations 3, it was their false Christianity that caused Him to feel such disgust that He said He would vomit them out of His mouth.

Good behavior can be premeditated and faked, but godly reactions to unexpected problems are the litmus test to show what kind of fruit is being borne inside of us.  From the treasury of our hearts comes the quick response to injustice, to the needs of others, to the attacks of the devil, and to the dry spells in our lives when it seems like God is taking too long to answer us.  Our daily reactions towards difficult people and circumstances are the fruit that prove what kind of treasury is inside of us – good or evil.  We are promised good fruit to enjoy and benefit from, as long as the treasury in our hearts is good.  Examine yourselves and make the changes you need right now if you see that you still bear the bad fruit of an unclean heart.  There’s no fooling God, might as well use that energy to purify what you have inside.