Luke 6:43 “For a good tree does not bear bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit.
While on our summer trip to California, my sister mentioned that she wanted me to cook a plantain. Plantains are from the banana family, sweet and a common staple here in Costa Rica.
I found the plantain in the grocery store and fried it the same way as I do in butter. Once it was cooked, we could not wait to eat it. We took one bite and quickly realized that it did not taste the same and both of us were disappointed.
A Pastor was invited over to dinner from one of his faithful church members of several years. The husband asked the pastor to bless the meal, and their three year old was sitting in his high chair. After the blessing of the meal, the child asked what he just did. It was obvious that the family never prayed before a meal, but yet wanted to appear the part of strong Christians on the outside.
We will come across people who profess the know Christ, profess to know his word, and say all the right “buzz words” in the Christian lingo, but it all boils down to their fruit.
The word says that you will know them by their fruit, and even though the outside appearance will be the same, you will notice how they really are once you taste what they are serving.
How do you know if they are bearing the right fruit? The word tell us how.
Galatians 5:22-23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.
What do we do when we see poor quality of fruit in a believer? In my personal opinion, I would like to challenge and encourage the person to step out in faith and surrender those areas of weaknesses to the Lord. In our weakness He is made strong.
We can encourage them and point out the good qualities of their Christian life instead of condemning them. An encouraging word goes a long way and does more good. A condemning word can only cause more damage to the person. It’s best to leave that area to the Lord.
Let’s flow out of grace, love and mercy, and show them our fruit in encouraging others.
May you be richly blessed this day.
Dear Yvette,
You are absolutely right. The Lord pointed that out to me recently. Indeed, it is easy for me to criticize. It comes very automatically from my perspective and I am blind for the good things in a person. However, when I look away from myself I immediately get the Lord’s perspective and I am able to encourage and I see the good in others.
When I saw the title of your blog I knew it had to been about one of the scriptures…I love it and I like the photo you picked..God bless you my dear
It’s all about the fruit… It’s all about the fruit. How do we respond to a fellow believer when bad fruit or no fruit is present? I’ve so learned that we always need to discern the Holy Spirit and be sensitive to His promptings, always speaking the truth in love. That’s risky, very risky. But the love of God will prevail. Love covers a multitude of sins. It all comes down to…. being a real disciple requires real discipline. God bless!