“Beware of false prophets who come disguised as harmless sheep but are really vicious wolves. 16 You can identify them by their fruit, that is, by the way they act. Can you pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17 A good tree produces good fruit, and a bad tree produces bad fruit. 18 A good tree can’t produce bad fruit, and a bad tree can’t produce good fruit. 19 So every tree that does not produce good fruit is chopped down and thrown into the fire. 20 Yes, just as you can identify a tree by its fruit, so you can identify people by their actions.

Good morning! Jesus uses the perfect illustration to explain how we can know if the teachers we listen to and ourselves lead true Godly lives. You can identify a tree by its fruit, and you can identify people by their actions!

I’m going to guess that many of you reading this blog post have some type of gardening experience, and I would also guess that many of you are better at gardening than me. (All of my tomatoes and cucumbers are dead this year already). Life has been busy lately, haha! But it’s no accident that a gardener grows good fruit. It’s through hard work and a refusal to compromise when caring for and growing fruit that produces good results from a garden. My father-in-law is always showing off how huge his tomatoes and other vegetables are, while mine have quite literally died, and I will rip them up soon to be thrown away while he will produce fruit for a good while to come. I think we can all guess why this is! 

Seeing good fruit from a follower of Christ is no accident; just as a garden producing good fruit is not either. Both of these take hard work and dedication to bear fruit. Think of all the things needed to be done to produce a successful crop. From planting to watering to picking weeds to fertilizer to so on and so on. Our spiritual lives need to be tended to in a similar manner in order to bear fruit. When we decide to follow Jesus, it’s time to pick up the plow and begin to work! Our goal should be to live obedient to Christ, nourishing our souls through prayer, reading scripture, and good works in serving others! We should joyfully work to bear the fruits that show we are followers of Jesus, not kicking our relationship with God to the side and leading to a fruitless life.

Sadly, the modern-day Christian looks a lot like my garden his year, not tended to, not fed, and kicked to the side. Is your soul starving for nourishment and needing to bear fruit? Don’t kick being obedient to God’s word, praying, and reading scripture to the side. Make it your highest priority to do the things that will bear the spiritual fruit God calls us to have in this life, and you will be more fulfilled than ever, bearing fruit for the world to see so you can point them toward Jesus! 

– Tyler