How’s Your Heart Today?

​Beware of false prophets who come disguised as harmless but are really vicious wolves. You can identify them by their fruit, that is, by the way they act. Can you pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? A good tree produces good fruit, and a bad tree produces bad fruit. A good tree can’t produce bad fruit, and a bad tree can’t produce good fruit. So every tree that does not produce good fruit is chopped down and thrown into the fire. Yes, just as you can identify a tree by its fruit, so you can identify people by their actions. Not everyone who calls out to me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who actually do the will of my Father in heaven will enter. On judgment day many will say to me, ‘Lord! Lord! We prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and performed many miracles in your name.’ But I will reply, ‘I never knew you. Get away from me, you who break God’s laws.’ Matthew 7:15-23 

Meditate. Read this passage three times and consider your heart as a tree with fruit.

      This same message is recorded in the book of Luke.  

Apple Blossoms 

A good tree can’t produce bad fruit, and a bad tree can’t produce good fruit. A tree is identified by its fruit. Figs are never gathered from thornbushes, and grapes are not picked from bramble bushes. A good person produces good things from the treasury of a good heart, and an evil person produces evil things from the treasury of an evil heart. What you say flows from what is in your heart. Luke 6:43-45

We often hear about the fruit of the Spirit—love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. I was surprised when I discovered that this is one fruit—not nine different fruits. It still amazes me. How can one fruit have so many qualities? Yet, it does. These are all good fruit—not bad, so that would indicate that the heart is good, producing good fruit. Jesus assumes us that the good heart—like the good tree—only produces good fruit. How’s your heart today?

Prayer ~ Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life. Psalm 139:23-24

Verse of Salvation ~  I pray that your love will overflow more and more, and that you will keep on growing in knowledge and understanding. For I want you to understand what really matters, so that you may live pure and blameless lives until the day of Christ’s return. May you always be filled with the fruit of your salvation—the righteous character produced in your life by Jesus Christ—for this will bring much glory and praise to God. Philippians 1:9-11  

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© 2026 Text, photos, and illustrations by Mickey M. Hunacek. All rights reserved.  All scripture quoted from the New Living Translation (NLT) unless otherwise noted.  New Living Translation copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. Biblical search from Blue Letter Bible - http://v3.blueletterbible.org/search.cfm.