What Kind of Fruit Do You Produce?

         When I was a child, I heard messages about the fruit that people produced. Christians would be known by their fruits, and those who weren’t believers would be known by theirs. I couldn’t understand how people could grow fruit. Confused, I studied the problem in the way children do until I found a solution I could understand. My parents usually had a garden every summer and grew vegetables, and I knew that some people planted fruit trees. Therefore, Christians must be the people whose trees had fruit or whose gardens didn’t dry up in the hot sun.

         In a way, my childish deduction wasn’t far from wrong. Christians must be able to produce fruit, a life, that indicates they are believers and followers of Christ.

         Second Peter, chapter one gives some Christian qualities that believers must cultivate in order to experience spiritual growth: goodness, self-control, and Godliness among them. But, how do we recognize the fruit of believers and non-believers?

         In Matthew, chapter seven, we find that some claim to be believers, but they are wolves in sheep’s clothing. Jesus asks, “Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?” He continues by saying that good trees bear good fruit, and bad trees bear bad fruit. “Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them. Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven. . .”

         Later in chapter twelve, He states, “For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him.”

         Luke, chapter six, also records these thoughts and words. In John, chapter fifteen, Jesus adds to the message of the fruit produced by all, “This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.”

         Now, how does that apply to our lives in this modern world? Let’s look at a few examples that may help us, including me, recognize the fruit we produce, whether good or bad.

         First of all, we need to realize that other people need to be able to tell that we are Christians without us standing on a soapbox and announcing, “Hey, look at me. I’m a Christian!” Others should be able to watch us, listen to us, and read what we write and know that we produce good fruit.

         Goodness is a fruit that believers are to produce: goodness in word and deed. Deliberately hurting others is not good. Lying, cheating, stealing, or destroying another person’s reputation out of meanness is not good. We need to examine our lives to find goodness and not evilness.

         Self-control is another fruit we should cultivate. Lashing out in anger, frustration, or desire to hurt isn’t practicing self-control. Returning hate and spite with kindness is. Refusing to hurt someone in return for being hurt means we have self-control.

         Godliness means we pattern ourselves after God. We dress and act modestly. Women who are believers are not mistaken for street walkers because of dress (rather undress) or manners. Men aren’t mistaken for criminals or gang members. Language wouldn’t be vile or vulgar. Ideas and thoughts wouldn’t be gutter fruit. Actions would reflect our trees, our lives, are God driven with good fruit, not evil. Vile language or vulgar behavior hardly meets the claim that “the good man brings good things out the good stored up in him . . .”

         We need to be aware of the fruit we produce because the world around us notices. We can argue that we are good and are Christians, but unless the world can tell that we are, we have failed. Indeed, by our fruit we are known. The saying that we are often the only Bible that some people will ever read is true. What are people seeing from us, good fruit produced or bad?