Living Authentically A reflection on Luke 6:43 45 on the Daily Bible refresh with Dr.

Brad Miller hello good people.

Welcome to Daily Bible Refresh.

My name is Dr.

Brad Miller.

Always a pleasure and a privilege to be with you as we join together on a mission that I have of getting the audible word of God into two million ears, a million people by the end of 2028.

We do that by reading the New Testament every day from the message to make it understandable, relatable, and then we give you a couple of points to ponder applicable to give you an action step to follow.

We have a prayer.

We do all of that in under 10 minutes or so.

Our daily Bible readings are taken from the Revised Common Lectionary, a three year cycle of reading through the Bible.

We're in Year C, the Lenten Season.

That's all brought to you by our website voiceofgoddaily.com the home of the ABC 1, 2, 3 Bible study method here's our reading for the day From Luke chapter 6:43 45 Reading from the Message Work the words into your life.

You don't get wormy apples off a healthy tree, nor good apples off a diseased tree.

The health of the apple tells the health of the tree.

You must begin with your own life giving lives.

It's who you are, not what you say and do that counts.

Your true being brims over into true words and deeds.

A short reading for the day with lots of punch and lots of power into it.

It's about Jesus teaching about authenticity and inner transformation.

And so let's get into it some points to ponder.

The first one is that authentic change starts from within.

Jesus used the metaphor of trees and fruit to remind us that meaningful change isn't about external performance or following rul rather than focusing on outward appearances or judgment of others.

And this passage calls us to examine our own inner landscape in a progressive faith.

We understand this as an invitation to deep personal work rather than superficial religious observation.

Second thing is about identity precedes action.

This passage emphasizes it's who you are, not what you say and do that counts.

Did you get that?

This radically challenges the notion that we can simply behavior modify our way in the transformation.

Instead, Jesus suggests that our actions naturally flow from our authentic selves.

This speaks to the importance of self acceptance, an understanding that we are already beloved rather than trying to earn worth through religious performance.

One more point.

It's about community impact through personal growth.

When Jesus talks about trees and their fruit, he's pointing to how our inner well being affects our broader community.

In progressive Christianity, we recognize that personal spiritual growth isn't just for individual benefit.

It's about contributing to collective flourishing and social justice.

Our true being that brims over affects everyone around us.

Let's talk about an action step this week.

I just I invite you to take 10 minutes each day for some honest self reflection.

It's really not about judging yourself.

It's simply to observe your thoughts, actions, patterns and do it with some compassion.

Ask yourself what in my life needs nurturing to produce better fruit?

What aspects of my authentic self am I hiding or suppressing?

Remember, this isn't about shame.

It's about growth and authenticity.

One other way you can have growth and authenticity is by having prayer, which we're going to have here in just a moment.

And another way is by having your own individual Bible study time.

We have a tool to help you to do just that.

I just want to invite you to go over to our website, voiceofgoddaily.com and there to pick up our free resource that we have for you.

It's called the ABC 1, 2, 3 Bible Study Method.

It will help you to coordinate with your daily audible reading of the Bible from Daily Bible Refresh to have your own Bible study and to use this methodology which is going to help you to do just that and apply it to your life.

Go over to voiceofgod daily.com and pick that up.

Let's pray.

Loving God, we thank you for accepting us exactly as we are while loving us too much to leave us as unchanged.

Help us to embrace the journey of our inner transformation with courage and compassion.

Guide us and nurturing the soil of our hearts so that our lives may naturally produce fruit that nourishes others.

Remind us that we don't need to perform or pretend, but simply to be authentic and present.

Give us wisdom to recognize where we need growth and grace, to be patient with ourselves.

In the process, may our true being overflow with love, justice and hope in our communities.

Amen.

Always a joy and a pleasure to be with you.

I just love it.

It's something, a commitment that I've made every day to read the word of God and to speak it in an audible fashion that it gets into the lives of the of 2 million years.

That's a million people by the end of 2028.

And I hope that you will do your part in helping us to reach that goal.

It's a worthy goal, I think.

So please head over to voiceofgoddaily.com and check out a daily Bible refresh@voiceofgoddaily.com I'll be with you here again tomorrow.

Please bring a friend to join us as we continue our process feeding the Word of God into 2 million years.

Until that time, remember that God's loyal love doesn't run out.

His merciful love hasn't dried up, it's created new every morning.