Instecting Fruit

Jesus said, "Each tree is recognized by its own fruit" (Lk 6:44).  That seems simple enough.  If you find apples on a tree, it's an apple tree.  If you find pears instead, it is a pear tree.  It isn't rocket science, it should be easy enough.  But....we so often manage to fail when we apply this principle to what Jesus had in mind: People.

He wasn't concerned about fruit picking but instead picking friends, mentors, associates, mates, leaders, etc.  He is saying that we should choose who we will let into our lives by the fruit that they bear - the things that are evident in their lives.  In other words, what they claim to be should be evident without words by what their lives produce.

A good person produces good fruit and a bad person produces bad fruit (cf. Lk 6:45).  See how easy that is?  And yet, we pick mates and then divorce them, we pick mechanics and then fire them, we pick friends and choose to avoid them.  Sound familiar at all?  Of course, we've all made some very bad choices, fruit notwithstanding.

Why is that?  Why do we so often have so much trouble inspecting the fruit that a person bears just like we would with a tree?  Often it is because we don't really look for the fruit.  How many see things after marriage they didn't notice when dating?  Right?

Sometimes it is because we don't take enough time for the fruit to be produced.  When I moved to California, I was very pleased to have an orange tree in my back yard.  It turned out to be a very special orange tree as it produced lemons.  Entering into a relationship of any kind without taking the time to actually see the fruit they produce is very risky business.

There are, of course, times when we simply don't truly know what kind of fruit we're looking for.  When you're looking for a church, for instance, what is the fruit you should be looking for?  Is it the name over the door, is it their growth factor, is it their worship style, just what is it?

How about looking the fruits of the Spirit?   How about when selecting a church, a partner or a confidant that we look for evidence of "love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self- control" (Gal 5:22-23)?

You may have other things you're looking for as well: a potential husband with a job, a wife who can cook, a church with a youth program, etc.  But if the fruits of the Spirit aren't there, whatever else is present won't really matter.  Jus' Say'n.