MAKE THE TREE GOOD

One might ask: "how can one make a tree good if it is a bad tree? How can one change a tree?" I was locked up on the idea of dealing with a full grown tree. Then one day the Lord showed me that you can make a tree good by planting good seed that the tree will grow from.

As I pondered that, I began to realize that many things that we plant or allow to be planted in us, in time, grow and produce their results. Jesus was saying to plant good seeds and tend them properly, in order to make a good tree and thereby good fruit (results).

We should realize that the produce of a tree can be altered by grafting, but that is not what Jesus said. He said make the TREE good. Later He said that a good tree CANNOT produce bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot produce good fruit. Therefore, a tree is known by its fruit.

Jesus called the Word of God the good seed, in Luke 8:11. Therefore, if we plant God's Word in our heart, believe it and water it, it WILL produce good fruit. God's Word CANNOT produce bad fruit, because it is the GOOD SEED.

Often we think thoughts, and feel things in our emotions, that only produce bad results. The results (fruit) proves that the seed we planted was bad seed!

Note the difference between hope and despair: despair may move people to a worse state of mind by thinking wrong things. That can result in depression and ultimately to suicide. Proverbs 13:12 says that hope deferred makes the heart sick: but when it is come, it is a tree of life. Romans 15:13 shows how God can work with belief to fill us joy and peace; the exact opposite of depression and despair.

Those things are not God's will for us, they are the result (fruit) of thoughts, feelings, conditions and imaginations. God doesn't cause them, PEOPLE do by sowing bad seed in their heart and mind, and by "seeing" the negative, bad and hopeless viewpoint. Then they vigorously water them by worry, fear and doubt.

Therefore, let us guard our heart diligently, and avoid planting bad seeds. Instead let us plant good seed (God's Word) and water it by thinking about it deeply and practicing it faithfully.

2 Cor. 10:4 speaks of 'casting down imaginations". Don't let wrong imaginations take root in the fertile soil of worry, enmity, unbelief or error.

Note the Words of Jesus in John 8:31-32. "...If ye continue in My Word, then are ye My disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."

May we understand then, that if we think on, meditate on and nourish good thoughts we shall have a tree that produces good fruit.

Consider Psalms 119:11: "Thy Word have I hid in my heart, that I might not sin against thee."

By planting the Good Seed (God's Word) in our heart and mind, we will make a tree whose fruit can bless anyone.

Note Eph. 4:29: Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace to the hearers."

Commonly, moroseful, moody, pessimistic people constantly "see" the negative, 'probable' side of things. They practice that so much that it produces its bad fruit.

In His mercy, God has told us how to plant a good tree, starting with Good Seed.  Phil. 4:8:

"Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsover things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things."

If we obey God's Word, we will not permit envy, jealousy, lust, anger, malice, hatred, strife, slander, gossip, greed, selfishness or foolishness to take root in our heart, and those things will be absent from our lifestyle.

I have seen signs that state: "Silence the violence." But what is in people's heart is going to come out, and no billboard signs can rid society of it.

Jesus said that out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness blasphemies: these are the things that defile a man. "Make the tree good."