You Will Know Them By Their Fruits

"You will know them by their fruits.  Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles?  Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit." [Matt 7:16-17]

There are certain kinds of plants that we know are dangerous, such as death caps or lima beans (safe when cooked, but raw they contain a toxin that can make you violently ill in a very small quantity).  Anybody who is aware of the dangers of these types of plants knows not to eat them.  They don't stumble upon a death cap one day and think "I wonder if it's safe to eat this time."

Likewise some plants are beneficial such as strawberry bushes or olive vines.  These plants bear fruit that are good to eat and are always good to eat.  You can know by looking at the fruit that they produce that they are good and healthy without having to test each one.

There are many people who profess to be children of God but either do not produce good fruits, that is good works, or in some cases even produce bad fruits.  They live sinful lifestyles, are involved in sinful relationships, or conduct themselves in ways that are not in keeping with God's word.  We cannot be children of God if the fruit that we produce is rotten or bitter or poisonous.

In John 15 Jesus said that he is the true vine.  Like an olive branch that produces fruit that is good to eat, those who truly follow Jesus, who are branches on His vine, should produce only good fruit, or good works.  We should be holy, meaning different from the world; set apart from sin.  If the fruit that we bare is bad, if we walk in the ways of the world, then we cannot be one with Christ anymore than a deadly death cap can grow from an olive branch.

Send Me

Often when I pray I'll include something like "And Lord, let your will be done," or "please bring peace to our nation."  But I got to thinking, what do I actually mean by that?  What am I expecting God to do when I pray like that?  I'm praying for some desired outcome and just leaving it up to the "mysteries of God" to work out.  Then I thought about the prophet Isaiah when he had a vision of heaven and the Lord asked "Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?" and Isaiah answered "Here am I!  Send me!" [Is 6:8]  Isaiah was willing to work for the Lord to bring about His will for His people.  That's how God works, and it wasn't an isolated example in Isaiah.  For example:

• When God wanted the people of Nineveh to repent, he sent the prophet Jonah.  When Jonah tried to flee God sent a giant fish to swallow him for 3 days before spitting him back out onto dry land where God once again told him to go to Nineveh to try to get them to repent on their sins (Jon 1-3)
• When the Messiah came into the world, He didn't descend from heaven like the Holy Spirit or the angels.  He was born to a woman, and not just any woman, but a woman in the lineage of king David and Abraham [Luke 3:23-38].
• When Jesus' work on Earth was done he left His kingdom in the care of humans.  He also charged his disciples to spread the kingdom throughout all the world [Matt 28:18-20] rather than simply appearing in a vision to everyone on Earth and telling them to repent.

The point is that God has always used us, His people, to do His will on Earth.  He wants all men to be saved [I Tim 2:4] but relies on us to spread the gospel of Christ and to bring lost souls to salvation.  So from now on I think I'm going to be more specific in my prayers.  Rather than asking that God's will be done, I will ask that God use me to bring about His will.  Rather than asking for peace in our nation, I will ask that God use me as an instrument of peace.  If I want God to work in this world, I must be willing to be the instrument that He uses.  I must be willing to say "Here am I!  Send me!"