What's Budding?

Something is.

In Matthew 7:15-20, Jesus says:

“Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.”

The question is not whether we are bearing fruit, but what kind.

Examine your life. What issues forth?

If it is good, keep producing. Rest in God. Abide in Christ. Let him bear fruit in and through you. He’s the vine. We’re the branches.

If your words and actions are bad, ask God to renovate your heart, transform you on the inside and make you like the good tree, so that what is borne into the world is a blessing, and not a curse.

Book Notes

I continue to make my way through Ronald Reagan’s autobiography, An American Life.

I am still near completion of Beth Allison Barr’s The Making of Biblical Womanhood: How the Subjugation of Women Became Gospel Truth. I haven’t read another page since last week. And I’m still reading Dante.

Sights and Sounds

I started watching He-Man and the Masters of the Universe: Revelation on Netflix, and am about a quarter of the way through the 2021 movie Kate starring Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Woody Harrelson. Progress is slow. I have a little bit of movie time each day as I wind down.

Last Words

On the blog: I shared a post on the formative nature of reading and the discoveries you can make while browsing.

Before I go, standard copy.

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Be well this week. Bless others.

Best,

BAS

P. S. - Fuel pump graffiti.