What Type of Tree are You

As I was at the gym this morning I was reading through Luke chapter 3. This is Luke's account
Of John the Baptist. I think it is so awesome how God can take a passage such as this one and show us how perfect his plans are. One of the things that John the Baptist (JTB) harped on was that we need to bear good fruit or we will be thrown into the fire. I don't think it is a coincidence that we hear this from JTB. He was sent to prepare the way for Jesus. I think that the circumstances in his life planted the seed to determine the "tree" he was going to be and what type of fruit he was going to produce. We see the same things in our lives today. The circumstances in my life are what drive my passion for telling people about Jesus. In the same way we as believers in Jesus are to prepare the way for His return. The circumstances in our lives have determined what sort of fruit we will bear for Him. If we choose to not bear good fruit then we will be cut down and thrown into the fire.

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Drawing a Crowd

As I was on a run tonight I was really thinking about the scripture I read this morning from Matthew 15, particularly verses 29 - 31.  I also decided that I would try my hand at blogging, since this would be way to wordy for twitter or facebook.  I have read through this passage of scripture many times and normally just skim over this part. But in reading it this morning it tweaked something that made me evaluate each encounter I have with one of His children on a daily basis.  In this passage Jesus drew a large crowd, and peformed miraculous healings and through it all God was glorified.  I was thinking how we see in scripture many times that Jesus drew a crowd, which posed a question in my mind which I posted on twitter this morning: "Are we living a life that draws a crowd, not to ourselves but to Jesus?"  However, as I was running tonight I thought about this question on a much deeper level.  What causes a people to come together and form a crowd?  How did all of these people know that Jesus could heal them?  We all know how fast news travels in a small town right?  This is no different, as Jesus was in the midst of His ministry the news of His works was traveling all across the country.  One person told two, those two told four, and so on....you get the picture.  As I was thinking through this I was really convicted of how I treat each encounter I have with someone.  Every encounter we have could be the beginning of drawing a crowd to Jesus.  What would the world look like if we all approached every one of His children this way.  Husbands to their spouse?  Parents to their children? To our co-workers, friends, the person standing behind us in the check-out line.  If we are truly to live as Christ lived we should be playing our part in drawing a crowd to Him, not to ourselves, but Jesus.  I by no means am even close to good at this, but I am trying to put myself in the shoes of those people in Jesus' time.  They were so excited at what Jesus was doing that every person they came in contact with it just burst out of them.  If we will really just stop and think about what Jesus did on the cross it should well up inside of us just as the people in His time and come out with every word or action we do.  Praise God for his word and how it pierces each time we read it.