Luke 6:43-45  “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.” (NLT)

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I learned a simple prayer a few months ago. It is as profound as it is simple. It’s easy to remember and helpful when deployed. It says, “Jesus, make my heart like yours.”

These few verses reinforce this idea. Good trees produce good fruit. Likewise, good people produce good things from their good hearts. What we say and how we behave proceed from the relative goodness of our hearts. 

On a scale of 1 to 10, how’s your heart today? 

Please know, you are under no obligation to report to me or anyone else what your true score is. Knowing us, we are likely either too harsh or too generous in our evaluations. 

God knows our true condition. Believe it or not, this is a good thing. He takes you and me, as the old hymn says, Just As I Am. He also loves us too much to leave us this way. He lovingly leads us toward healthier hearts, hearts that produce more fruit and fewer thorns. 

God, knowing our true conditions, loves working into us what he wants us to express with our lives. He does not ask from us what we are incapable of doing. He asks from us what he empowers in us and through us. And, even better, his good work goes on all the days of our lives. (See Philippians 1:6.)

How do we know he is working on us and in us? We begin to produce more spiritual fruit. Here’s what a person shaped by God’s heart and hands begins to display day by day:

But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!
‭‭Galatians‬ ‭5‬:‭22‬-‭23‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Simple prayers and simple faith produce abundant fruit. Pray with me: “Dear Jesus, make my heart like yours.”

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I will often ask Jesus to make my heart like his.

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Our Father, reshape my heart in whatever manner is necessary so that it produces a fruitful and effective lifestyle. Make me ever more loving, joyful, peaceful, patient, kind, good, faithful, gentle, and self-controlled. Use this fruit to enrich the lives of others. Amen.