Good Fruit

Matthew 7:16-20 You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thorns, or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a corrupt tree bears evil fruit. A good tree cannot bear evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and cast into the fire. Therefore by their fruits you will know them.

Most people reading this passage tend to focus in on the fruit that is produced. Okay…But a closer look will reveal that the Lord is really focusing on the tree. The fruit merely demonstrates the quality of the tree. We have all encountered this: there are trees whose fruit is healthy and delicious, and there are trees whose fruit is scarcely edible, or even useless.

My fig tree is about 4 years old and is small for its age. We live on a rocky hill with little real soil and the roots have to fight a lot of rock to really grow much less be healthy. We’ve been amazed at the little tree. Many times I thought it dead; we’ve lost several trees we’ve planted. This is the first year it produced more than 2-3 figs. I grew up with fig trees and know the benefit of its goodness. My Honey did not. He says the figs on our tree are the sweetest he’s even eaten. He doesn’t know what he doesn’t know about figs. We need to keep in mind, the fruit doesn’t make the tree — the tree makes the fruit.

A tree that produces good fruit is firmly rooted in soil which provides adequate water and nourishment. Likewise, those of us whose lives are rooted in and dedicated to Jesus produce good fruit. Others, who try to produce good works for “religious” reasons, or to prove or approve of themselves, may produce fruit, but it will be much inferior. When our focus is on Jesus, and our lives are centered in Him, the fruit we produce will not be from self-effort, and its quality will be excellent…because it is simply the produce of a good tree.

Just tap into the Source of your life, Jesus, allowing the sap of His Spirit to flow through you – and then watch what great fruit He is continually able to produce. Your harvest will know no bounds and the fruit will be sweet. The real sweetness is in knowing Him. We, too, do not know what we don’t know when our lives are not planted in Jesus. The sweetest, plumpest, juiciest fruit comes when our roots are planted deeply in Christ and fed by the Living Water.