Do They Know Us By Our Fruit?

My inspiration for today’s post was seeing my sweet granddaughter's post yesterday. She said, “Doing my civic duty! Proud to be an American, where we the people have a voice!” I loved that and I love “her voice” – one that is kind and giving, with desire to do her part. A juror gets to judge. But what about the rest of us?

How easy it is to judge the likes of folks whose poor attitude, angry spirit and crankiness seems to bring a dark cloud with them when they come into the room. We randomly judge someone when they’ve made a bad decision that you warned them not to make or maybe we judge an outfit someone wore, a new hairstyle, the lack of someone’s personal pride, the way they handle their business affairs, and the good or bad language they speak. Whew! Oftentimes, it’s a workout to keep from being judgmental especially when we see the “fruit” of the actions of some of those folks.

But Jesus set the record straight about judging. He said in Matthew 7:1 “Judge not so you won’t be judged.” Yikes! I sure don’t want to be judged. On the other hand, maybe we should be Fruit Inspectors -- especially when we see fruit (rotten fruit at that – okay, forgive me, that’s judging) that causes us to check out our own fruit as to whether what others see in us is sweet and tasty fruit.

Having love for some unlovable folks, finding peace in the midst of chaos, experiencing joy when folks may be getting on our last nerve -- can be quite a feat any time, but most certainly, in the last several weeks, we’ve been given all kinds of opportunities to decide. Is it love or hate, peace or anger, bitterness or happiness, crankiness or joyfulness? Remembering the scripture… "What the heart is full of....the mouth speaks" (Luke 6:45)? Doesn’t that give us pause for giving ourselves a good old fruit inspection?

When we opened the door of our hearts to God....He walked through the door with a treasure chest full of everything we would need to overcome and be successful in every area of our life. We do our best to resist judging, and, then I clearly got the message "I'm not asking you to be their Fruit Inspector. I'm asking you to inspect your own fruit." That's when I know God is telling me to amp up that fruit in my own life -- to be sure that what my heart is full of, bears the Fruit of the Spirit qualities: Galations 5:22,23 "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness, self-control."

When I said that God is calling us to be FRUIT inspectors, that applies to Matthew 7:20 – “Therefore, by their FRUITS, you will know them.” WOW – that’s how we’re recognized as devoted followers of Christ…OR NOT -- by our FRUITS. So as FRUIT inspectors….first, we need to pass the test on the FRUITS we, ourselves, are bearing.

It really is the season for "Fruit Bearing”. After all, as believers, we know Holy Spirit is in us so we already have the good soil, fertilizer, nutrients and everything else we need to be choice, bright, luscious, sweet, refreshing, top quality FRUIT bearers to a world that could sure use some.

By Their Fruit, You Will Know Them

Day 335 of Photo Inspirations -- By Their Fruit, You Will Know Them
This photo inspiration is a lovely, thoughtful token of appreciation from this precious group of women (two were missing from the photo) for my leading them in an 8-week Bible Study that started in early October.

When I was praying for wisdom on what the study should be about, I started thinking about the time of the year we were entering into -- the hustle, the bustle, the busy-ness that the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays present us.  In addition, I thought about all the opportunities we would be having to take the "higher road" when it comes to family get-togethers when a mis-spoken word or careless statement or a disappointing situation could surface.   Having love for some unlovable folks, finding peace in the midst of chaos, experiencing joy when folks may be getting on our last nerve -- can be quite a feat any time, but most certainly, the holidays can stir up all kinds of opportunities to decide -- love, peace, joy or anger, bitterness, crankiness. Remembering the scripture "What the heart is full of....the mouth speaks"  (Luke 6:45)-- certainly gives pause for giving ourselves a heart check up!

Then, just in the nick of time,  I remembered.....when we opened the door of our hearts to God....He walked through the door with a treasure chest full of everything we would need to overcome and be successful in every area of our life.  I had been watching some of the political debates and interviews and I started inspecting the candidates' "fruit" and I'll be honest with you, I was disappointed in how some of them were handling themselves.  It was difficult for me to recognize them as statesmen and political leaders that represented that "treasure chest" of sweet fruit.   But, then I clearly got the message "I'm not asking you to be their Fruit Inspector.  I'm asking you to inspect your own fruit."  That's when I knew God was telling me to speak about the Fruit of the Spirit and how we need to amp up that fruit in our own lives -- to be sure that what our hearts are full of, bears the Fruit of the Spirit qualities:  Galations 5:22,23 "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness, self-control."

The Fruit of the Spirit in us is either flourishing or languishing.   If all these qualities are growing, then we'll be bearing sweet, tasty fruit in our lives.   As a fruit inspector, inspecting our own fruit, we know how we're doing.  Take, for instance, the Thanksgiving holidays, did you have times when you lost it (i.e., self-control, patience, kindness, gentleness).  I know I did. I had a melt down one day and had to find a quiet place, to regroup -- to get a grip -- to recognize which quality I needed to shore up.

What a joy it was to be with this little band of women over these 8 weeks.  They meet to share and care and pray and grow.  They stand in the gap for friends and loved ones who are hurting or going through tough times.  They celebrate each other's victories, and they unite as a force to be reckoned with in praying for each other. They have personal needs and personal pray requests, but they take all those Fruit of the Spirit qualities and walk out their faith. While I prepared and taught this study -- I was the recipient of God's Word that caused me to inspect what's in me.  Thank you, God, for your sweet way of leading us to green pastures, restoring our souls, and loving us enough to develop your character in us.  Now -- let's go prepare a tasty and sweet fruit salad that God's light shines brightly through us!