Repentance is Still Needed
The Fruit of Repentance – Part 2
Scripture Reading: Luke 3:7-14
Key Verse: Luke 3:8a
Produce fruit in keeping with repentance.
When you read today’s Scripture Reading, you can see that it tells the whole story of repentance. We started yesterday by looking at the first fruit of repentance, which was caring for the poor. The second fruit, that John the Baptist mentions, is integrity in all our affairs.
The tax collectors came to John wanting to be baptized and asking what they needed to do. John knew that a common practice in this profession was to allow greed to control their behaviors. They would collect more taxes than the law of the land required. Obviously, the purpose was to line their own pockets with the added revenue. Sound familiar in our day?
The fall of earlier societies was caused, in large part, when its leaders were lacking in integrity. Most of that was driven by greed.
John prepared people to follow Jesus. He knew that repentance must result in the fruit of integrity. Remember our definition of repentance was all about “turning away from” our sinful behavior. The fruit of integrity is what we turn to after repentance. Life in Christ is about integrity in all our affairs with people.
Most of us are not tax collectors, but are there any areas of your life that lack integrity? Has greed caused you to cut corners on total honesty when it comes to your financial affairs?
Father, point out any area that I may have blind spots in so I can show my fruits of repentance. I ask this in Jesus’s Name, amen.