Cultivate a Heart of Righteousness!Sample

Frequently we also see other things—unwanted thoughts, attitudes, desires, and behaviors, that still spring from our old nature—sprouting up alongside the righteousness the Lord is producing in us through His Word by His Spirit. That is why to cultivate hearts of righteousness we also need to PRUNE: diligently remove from our lives those things that continue to be produced by our old nature.

We need to vigilantly watch over our hearts. This will mean listening to the words that come from our lips, observing our actions, taking heed of our emotions, making note of how we prioritize our time, and evaluating our motives. It is vitally important to see where we are still living according to sin within instead of the Spirit! If we are going to cultivate hearts of righteousness we must not only put off the things that others can see and hear, but we must also pull up the sinful root in our hearts that produces those things! These sinful roots can choke out the harvest of righteousness that the word of God is producing. As we prune the sinful root and its weeds, we give righteousness a chance to thrive in our hearts! The outcome? The beautiful fruit of righteousness!