Yesterday we talked about bearing good spiritual fruit. Today I’m talking about bad apples. Originally this had all been one long post about the good and the bad, but I decided it was best to split it up. If you are hating the discussion of fruit, don’t worry, it’ll be over after this post.
{Image via…click over for another awesome devo on bearing good fruit.}
Just as the Bible tells us how to produce good fruit, and encourages us to do so…it also warns of bad fruit and those who produce it.
Think back to the orchard we visited yesterday. A good tree will produce good fruit. Big, juicy, ripe apples will hang from the branches of a good tree. So many, you’ll have to pick and share with your neighbors just to keep them from going to waste. Walk a little further down the orchard path and chances are, you’ll pass a bad tree eventually.
You’ll know it when you see it. A sick tree, infested with worms and eaten by moths and diseased with some kind of bark fungus will not bear apples worth eating. In that case it’s easy to see that the fruit is bad. You’ll walk right on by, never even thinking of picking one of it’s pieces to eat.
Here is the warning Jesus issues in Matthew 7:15-20.
Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them.
Do people pick grapes from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.
A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.
Jesus tells us that spiritually unsound individuals may look innocent and good, but we can always tell who they really are by the fruit they bear. He goes far enough to say that a bad tree cannot produce good fruit. No more than a thorn bush can produce grapes. Jesus has assured us that the truth of a person’s character is in the fruit, that proof will never lie.
Let’s think about one more situation. {This is from my mind…not directly from Scripture.} Down the orchard a bit, there may be a seemingly healthy tree with no fruit on it at all. While it looks healthy–if it bears nothing, there is cause to think something is wrong. I wouldn’t consider a fruitless tree to be “good.” “Okay,” maybe…but not “good.”
We are called to bear good fruit. To do so, we need to be good trees, not just “okay.”
I think the hardest part isn’t avoiding being a bearer of bad fruit. That’s pretty basic for lots of church-goers. The hardest part is making sure we are bearing fruit at all. That we aren’t the healthy-looking tree, growing and doing just fine in the orchard…but turning out empty branches every time harvest rolls around.
To make an obvious statement, good people aren’t going to go around with baskets of luscious Granny Smiths, and bad people aren’t going to go around with a basket labeled “Poison Berries.” Until folks start doing that–we’ll have to look closer at the produce of their lives through deeds, actions and words.
Take a moment and assess this evening. What’s your fruit? Is it good? Is it bad? It is nonexistent? Ask a friend, find an accountability partner to help you. Think about what you can change to bear more good fruit. Maybe you need to weed out some negativity in your heart, or make an effort to speak positively. Think about your gifts, the things you excel at, and how you can use them to make more fruit. Think about the people you are surrounded by. Are they bearing fruit? Is it wormy or juicy?
I firmly believe that we have all been created with the capacity to do great things. To ripple in incredible ways. To have an awesome impact of the world around us. Now go. Self examine and start bearing.
