Ten Bible Principles For A Better Living

6

Choose Your Company Wisely

  ‘Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?’

Matthew:7:16

  Who you keep around says a lot about you as a person, you may not think it does but in reality people sometimes just don't know what to look for. What about Mrs. Jenkins who is on the Sunday committee? She cooks all the goodies for the plates, but she spews more junk out of her mout than the food she puts on the plate. Let's not forget Evangelist Maybelline who talks about everybody that walks in the door, and gossips as soon as service is over. Doesn't it feel weird?

  She's doing all the gossiping and you somehow get involved, and you  get this weird pang in your chest. What about your friend who is out there in the world, or those people who try to get you to party every weekend. It's not just about how holy they can be, it is about who they are, and who they will be in the long run. God knows us all to well, but he gave us common sense for a reason. Why should he have to send down fire from heaven every time just because you can't find your keys?

   Why should he send down an army just because you had a bad day? Some parts of life he wants us to handle on our own, it is a learning process. We will talk about that in a later book. It will teach you when to call on God, and when you just need a little nudge from him to handle things yourself. Let us take a look at the scripture. We will analyze it before I go any further.

   "Ye shall know them by their fruits." Fruit you say?  What exactly does that mean? I have heard the pastor say it, but no one gives a clear explanation. Let's take a look at seeds. We hear it all over the Bible, but I promise it all connects.

   Seeds produce various things including fruit. Just like we can choose what crops to grow, we can choose what seeds to plant in our lives, and what seeds we can plant into our hearts and within ourselves. Sometimes life has a way of helping you find your character, and the people around you. But seeds can't be planted and then that's it.

   If it were that easy we would all grow our own food and we wouldn't go to the grocery store. Seeds need to be planted and cultivated.  cul·ti·vate

ˈkəltəˌvāt/Submit verb

try to acquire or develop (a quality, sentiment, or skill). So cultivating is using resources and what you know to try and develop something.

     In life we have to cultivate some qualities and characteristics. It is always good to be nice, but you can always be kinder. It is good to appreciate, but you can always be more appreciative. Life is one big way to find yourself, and discover things about yourself that you never knew. People are too content being the way they are, which is why their lives never change.

     Why is my life so boring God? God when will you heal me of depression? God sits back and lets out a rumbling laugh and his shoulders shake. It's true he can do anything, but back to the common sense point. If you don't have common sense enough to analyze yourself, and to think well if I want to get better I have to change my thinking. God would rush to your aid if your thoughts even contain a hint of faith.

    Now we know that seeds produce fruit, and seeds can be planted inside our lives and inside us. We also get to choose those seeds, but some things are just who we are and are seeds life has planted or that we have created ourselves. If something bad happens to you then you can choose to be angry, or you can choose to change the way it effects your life. You created the seed in this case.