Good Fruit? Bad Fruit?

Good Morning,

Matthew 7:15-20 (NIV)
"Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them. (Emphasis mine, DRB)

I read only, "By their fruit you will recognize them," first thing this morning. Then, as I try to do, I looked at the context of these words. Jesus was talking about "false prophets" here who were obviously out to sway opinions over to their side in order to take advantage of those who might believe them. However, Jesus also mentioned "A good tree cannot bear bad fruit," so we see that what is inside people, good and bad, can be seen by the "fruit" that they produce.

That got me to thinking and wondering...a couple of sometimes dangerous activities...what kinds of fruit I may have produced up to this point in my live and what kind of fruit I might be producing at this particular point in my life. I have to admit that after some examination, I wasn't totally gratified with what I found...and even am finding now, today, at this point in time.

It can be pretty sobering, this reflection thing, you know? I guess that's a very good thing. We are shown, pretty easily I think, the not so good fruit we've produced (and may yet still be producing) in our lives. The good fruit that we've produced? Well, not so easily seen, I'm afraid. That might seem to be a bad thing, or at least a not so good thing. But, I would argue that. I believe it is a very good thing. You see, when we see what wasn't so great in what we've done, in the fruit we've produced, it gives us the opportunity to make changes in our lives and, thus, begin to swing the scale over to the "good fruit" side of things.

That's the beauty of being a human being with a mind and will. We can make changes when changes are deemed necessary. Yes, it takes will and a mind bent on making positive changes when we see the need, but we can do it.

I guess the point today is simply for us to look at the fruit we've produced, what fruit we are presently producing, and what kinds of fruit we wish to produce in the future. We obviously can't change what we've done in the past, that goes without saying, of course. But if we see that the fruit of today isn't so great, we can begin to alter our behavior in such a way that we change what it is we are producing. Then, we can put our minds and efforts into being sure that what we do in the future will produce ONLY good fruit that God would be proud to see.

As always, in pretty much everything in life, we have a choice. Our choice. Let's make it wisely. We can be sure that the fruit we leave behind as a legacy of our lives is good.

Love, peace, and blessings,

David