Be A Fruit Inspector

Every tree is known by its own fruit. For men do not gather figs from thorns, nor do they gather grapes from a bramble bush.

Luke 6:44

Grafting merges the fruiting portion of one plant or tree with the rooting portion of another. For instance, the trunk of one variety of apple tree, called the rootstock, will have grafted to it the flowering or fruiting portion of a different apple tree, called the scion. When the tree matures, it bears fruit that the rootstock tree would never have borne.

That may work in the world of horticulture, but it does not work in the spiritual world: the fruit cannot be different from the root. Or, as Jesus put it, “Every tree is known by its own fruit” (Luke 6:44). Jesus spoke these words when warning against false prophets: test the prophet’s fruit, and you will know the prophet’s root. But the principle applies across the board—even to Christians. Galatians 5:22-23 describes the fruit of the Spirit—the character traits of a true follower of Jesus. Anyone bearing fruit unlike the character of Jesus calls his or her own spiritual rootstock into question.

Fruit inspection—not others’ fruit, but our own—is always in order. Make sure there is no discrepancy between fruit and root in your life.

It is no use to anybody for a tree to bud and blossom if the blossom does not develop into fruit.

MARTIN LUTHER