Recognizing Them by Their Fruit
Matt 7:16 "You will fully recognize them by their fruits.
Do people pick grapes from thorns, or figs from thistles?"
AMP
Three years ago, after a night of fierce wind and
thunderstorms, a willow branch found itself broken away from
its mother tree. As he was lying there alone on the ground,
condemned to a horrible death of starvation and dehydration,
he wondered what life could have been, if he had remained
united with the Mother tree. He had no hope. His outcome was
clear. No help could come from anywhere. He was going to
die!
All of a sudden, he overheard a screech of tires and two
eagerly young boys running towards him. Before he knew what
was happening, he felt himself being lifted up into the air
and transported with great care to the trunk of the car with
screeching tires, where he was laid down.
A short distance later, the trunk was once more opened
again, and again he was lifted out and moved to an unknown
destination. As he laid on the ground, he noticed that these
two young lads had brought a bag with them of the purest
dirt he had ever seen. Not far away, he could hear the
sounds of a ditch flowing with plenty of fresh water. As he
tried to lift his head, he saw two boys digging a hole
with the help of their daddy.
"These are nice people", he thought. "They took the time to
prepare my burial place! I won't die unknown in an unknown
place. These are good people!"
To his astonishment, however, he wasn't buried in the hole.
Instead he felt himself being planted in that hole filled
with the purest dirt. Hands were very carefully firming up the
dirt around him, and soon he received a long drink of water.
"Don't they know that trees don't grow from broken
branches?" he wondered. "Trees grow from the fruit that
falls to the ground!"
To his amazement, day after day, these caring boys watered
him, and he never had a week go by without one of them
giving him a hug. He felt himself loved and cared for, and
to his astonishment, roots started to grow out of his limbs!
A miracle had happened! From an assured death he was
released and through the help of these loving boys a new
life had been provided to him.
This year my boys celebrated that branch's third birthday
and unknown to all of us, that weeping willow branch had
become a tree that has started to bloom and carry its own
fruit. Wow! What love can do!
God is in the business of miracles and He does the same
thing to all of those who are lost in this world and whose
destiny is hopeless. He picks them up and carefully embraces
them with His love. If they accept Him into their life, they
find themselves miraculously transformed by His grace and
before they know it, fruit is forth coming. Their life is
filled with love and radiates with divine love.
One may wonder what kind of fruit Jesus is talking about in
Matthew 7. The answer is found in that chapter itself.
To the amazement of many, Jesus first makes sure that we
know what that fruit is not.
Matt 7:20-23 "Therefore, you will fully know them by their
fruits. Not everyone who says to Me, Lord, Lord, will enter
the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father
Who is in heaven. Many will say to Me on that day, Lord,
Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name and driven out
demons in Your name and done many mighty works in Your name?
And then I will say to them openly (publicly), I never knew
you; depart from Me, you who act wickedly." AMP
The fruit is clearly not just being a believer and is not
just driving out demons in Jesus' name and doing mighty
works in Jesus' name. But if these are not the fruit
referred here, what could it be?
Very simple:
1. Matt 7:23 "I never knew you." AMP That fruit is having a
personal relationship with Jesus.
2. Matt 7:24 "So everyone who hears these words of Mine and
acts upon them [obeying them] will be like a sensible
(prudent, practical, wise) man who built his house upon the
rock." AMP That fruit is acting upon Jesus' words and obey
His voice.
3. Matt 7:25 "And the rain fell and the floods came and the
winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall,
because it had been founded on the rock." AMP That fruit is
finding it's foundation on the rock of Jesus Christ.
In one word the fruit referred to here is living the real
life of a Christian. What is a Christian, but one who
follows Jesus Christ in everything he does? Jesus is the One
who makes that fruit possible in our life, not us. As long
as we depend on Him and develop a personal relationship with
Him, fruit will be fort coming!
Is your fruit forth coming? If not, come to Jesus and accept
His invitation of becoming your personal friend. Fruit is an
assured thing for those having their foundation in Him!
Rob Chaffart