Matthew 7:16, 17 (NKJV): You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? 17 Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.
Jesus’ words about fruit, offer a simple, yet deep insight into Christian life. Here it is: fruit is ALWAYS determined by the kind of plant it’s on. I like to garden—and am looking forward to putting in my first garden in many years THIS summer! It should be some good fun—and yield some tasty results. I know I’ll have some surprises—but there’s a few surprises I know I WON’T have. I won’t find juicy red tomatoes on my cucumber plants; I won’t find tangy blueberries bursting from pea pods; and my cornstalk roots won’t be plump with carrots. The fruit will always match the kind of plant I’ve got growing in my garden. That’s life. We can expect to get exactly the kind of life-outcomes we’ve been putting in the time to get. So if we’ve sown seeds of selfishness—we won’t be picking the benefits of generosity anytime soon; and if we’ve been sowing seeds of kindness, we won’t be tangled in the thorns of bitterness. These organic principles are as consistent in our lives as they are in the plant kingdom.
