Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.
A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit.
Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
Therefore, by their fruits you will know them. Matthew 7:16-20
Many people, especially non-Christians, are on “look-out” for when we mess up, then are quick to judge us as Christians. They expect us to “bear good fruit.” Or perhaps, even waiting for us to bear “bad fruit.”
Galatians 5:22 lists the fruits of the Spirit: “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.” When we allow the Holy Spirit to dwell in us by having a relationship with God, we begin producing these fruits.
When I was in college, as a new Christian, I went to many church functions, hung out with the Christian group in college, carried a Bible everywhere I went, wore jewelry with Christian symbols, owned many Christian books, and had a “Jesus Loves You” bumper sticker on my car. I was proclaiming the Christian life but wasn’t bearing good fruits. I was so focused on “Christianity” that I didn’t focus on “having a relationship with God.” Even though God removed my quick temper, I still showed bitterness, envy, hatred, gloom, judgement and many more “bad fruits.”
In Matthew 7:15-20 Jesus is talking about the difference between false prophets and His disciples. He says, “Therefore by their fruits you will know them.”
It’s easy to get “busy with life” and forget to notice the bad fruits that come out of us (bad habits, bad language, bad attitudes, bad temper, etc.) and we forget to notice how those look to others.
Are you like a good tree that is bearing good fruit?
Do you have some branches, bearing bad fruit, that need pruning?
Ask the Holy Spirit to remove those branches and replace them with branches that bear good fruit.
~Joanie Lawrence-Cain
