| Photo by Powell Rasull on Unsplash
Jesus teaches His followers that we are not to judge others, but rather to be discerning about the fruit they bear. When I was recovering from my surgery, I was watching a show about people trying to smuggle things into our country, and some officers check for any fruit or food products coming over the border. They inspect the fruit to determine if it is suitable for entry into our country.
When you go shopping for fruit, you inspect the fruit. You want to make sure that it is ripe and ready to eat. You check it for defects or if it is overripe.
In the spiritual sense, we need to be discerning fruit inspectors of our own lives and those of others.
Jesus teaches in Matthew 7: 17-20;: “A good tree produces good fruit, and a bad tree produces bad fruit. A good tree can’t produce bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot produce good fruit. So every tree that does not produce good fruit is chopped down and thrown into the fire. Yes, just as you can identify a tree by its fruit, so you can identify people by their actions.”
Before we try to inspect other people’s fruit, we first need to examine our own. What kind of fruit is there in my life? Am I reproducing the fruit of the Spirit in my life? Whatever is in me is what is going to be produced through my life. What kind of fruit are we reproducing in our lives?
Jesus says: “So you can identify people by their actions, attitudes, behavior over time!” Every one of us is going to fail, mess up, but whatever is in us is going to come out of us over the long haul of life.
We need to pray that our walk and our talk are in alignment with your Word and Spirit!
Lord, let my life produce good fruit!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Pastor Ronald Squibb has been the International Christian Center (ICC) Lead Senior Pastor at Staten Island, New York, since 2011. He draws many experiences from his over 40 years as a pastor and significant emotional life experiences.
His new book, Following the Journey with Jesus, which he co-authored with Daniel McNaughton, was recently published and is receiving rave reviews. His daily devotional appears in this publication.
