Do you find it easier to judge others than it is to examine yourself? Most of us do. We judge others by what they say and do while judging ourselves by our motivations and what we hope to say and do.

In this meditation, we'll contemplate Luke's account of Jesus' Sermon on the Mount and Paul's letter to the Galatians. We'll allow the Holy Spirit to use God's Word to to reveal to us the good fruit we are producing as well as the bad fruit. We'll examine ourselves as we might examine a tree and its fruit.

Ricky's commentary: Here is the first guided Christian meditation that I wrote and recorded. I was participating in a small group Bible study and we were tasked with reading, and studying, five different passages before our next meeting. One of those passages was Luke 6:43-45, where Jesus talks about a tree and its fruit.

As I studied this passage, I found myself meditating on it. I repeated short sections of it over and over in my mind. As I thought about particular phrases, other supporting scriptures came to mind, and I thought about them as well. Mostly, I thought about how this all applied to me. God used this time of meditation to challenge me to evaluate different areas of my life.

As I meditated, I also thought about the people in my small group and the people in my Sunday School class. I wondered how many of them regularly meditate on the scriptures, and if they had ever been taught to meditate on the Bible. This prompted me to dig into the Word and see what God had to say about the discipline of meditation. Out of that study, I created a lesson that I taught to my Sunday School class. I concluded the lesson by guiding them through the methods I use as I meditate on God's Word by myself.

The people in my Sunday School class really enjoyed it, and several of them asked if I could record it. So, I recorded it for them. Here is that original meditation, much as I presented it to the class that first time. I recommend that you listen to it during a time when you will not be disturbed and you can focus on God's Word.

The background music in this meditation is, "Above the Clouds," by Suzanne Teng (used under license from Magnatune). The song appears on her album, "Enchanted Wind," available from Amazon.com.