Judge Them by Their Fruit

1 Corinthians 4:5 Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God.

I came across this powerful story and wanted to share it with you. It’s been around on the internet before and you may have read it but it is a timeless lesson relevant to us all.

There was a man who had four sons. He wanted them to learn to not judge things too quickly, so he sent them each on a quest to go and look at a pear tree that was a great distance away. He sent his first son in the winter, his second in the spring, his third in summer and his youngest in the fall. When they had all gone and come back, he called them together to describe what they had seen.

The first son said that the tree was ugly, bent, and twisted. The second son said no – it was covered with green buds and full of promise. The third son disagreed, he said it was laden with blossoms that smelled so sweet and looked so beautiful, it was the most graceful thing he had ever seen. The last son disagreed with all of them; he said it was ripe and drooping with fruit, full of life and fulfillment.

After hearing all his son’s responses, the wise father replied, “Sons, you are all right — because you have each seen only one season in the tree’s life. But you cannot judge a tree, or a person, or anything else by only one season. Most things can only be measured at the end, when all the seasons have come to pass”.

I think each of us has judged someone or something prematurely, and we have also probably experienced the pain of being judged that way. We tend to see things through our own 'filters' and tunnel vision (perspectives).We need to look closely enough and long enough to see the big picture before we rule things in or out. It is sad how quickly we form opinions that become beliefs and absolutes in our minds on flimsy observations and snap decisions. The ultimate 'judging a book by its cover'.
 
Lord, forgive us! We need to give each other the benefit of the doubt!

God created the 'big picture' and sees all. I, personally, am glad my judgement day will be handled from His heavenly perspective and my attorney of choice...Jesus Christ!