Known By My Fruits
No matter how loudly we protest, we can't escape the powerful truth that what we truly believe shows up in how we live!
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If I went to a garden store and bought a tree they said would grow pears. After I planted, fertilized, watered, and did all the work to grow my pear tree to maturity so that I could eat my pears, I would be pretty upset if that tree I worked on all that time started producing lemons!
A tree reveals its true identity when it produces the fruit.
And that is true of us as well. Our choices, priorities, and actions all testify to the kind of person we are inside. We can’t hide our true nature forever. As Abraham Lincoln once said, “You can fool some of the people all of the time and all of the people some of the time, but you can’t fool all of the people all of the time.” And you can’t fool God any time!
So, what you “plant” in your heart and head “grows” into the icon of who you are! That means IF you are wise, you will pay attention to what goes into your head and heart, AND you will be as patient with others as God is with you!
Look at our lesson today in Luke 6:37-45:
The Lord said, “Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven; give, and it will be given to you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For the measure you give will be the measure you get back.”
He also told them a parable: “Can a blind man lead a blind man? Will they not both fall into a pit? A disciple is not above his teacher, but every one when he is fully taught will be like his teacher. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take out the speck that is in your eye,’ when you yourself do not see the log that is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take out the speck that is in your brother’s eye.
“For no good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit; for each tree is known by its own fruit. For figs are not gathered from thorns, nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush. The good man out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil man out of his evil treasure produces evil; for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.”
The Lord demands that we FIRST deal with our darkness before we try to help another! The Lord insists we are not free to help another with a “speck” in their eye if we have a “log” in our eye.
But we must actively engage in our repentance to be helpful to those around us. If we truly love our neighbors as ourselves, the greatest gift we can give our family, children, community, society, and world is our own life of repentance!
But then the Lord ends the passage with the common sense He always brings to these excellent insights – A “good” tree produces “good” fruit. A “bad” tree, well, you get it.
If I see an apple tree growing pears, I am not free to call it an apple tree!
But I am free to say what it is – a tree bearing pears is a pear tree; it isn’t an apple tree.
However, I must FIRST turn that insight on myself BEFORE I am free to “help” my brother! Spiritual delusions always start in our minds, and they infect everything and everyone. It is finally confronting my own delusions that allow the Spirit and I to cooperate and “prune” the “dead” and “diseased” thoughts and actions from my life SO THAT I can “grow” the healthy spiritual fruit of the Spirit!
St. Romanos, the Melodist, is called that because of the many hymns he composed for the Orthodox Faith. He was born at the end of the 5th century AD and was ordained a deacon in the Orthodox Church in Beirut, Syria. To this day, his hymns are still heard throughout the Orthodox world in the many kontakia he composed for Christian worship and prayer. The amazing “fruit” of this hero’s faithfulness and love for God still “feeds” the faithful and encourages us to know Him, Who loved us more than we, ourselves, know how to love!
Today, what kind of fruit is your life producing? Is it the fruit of repentance? Is your life a source of nourishment for the world around you? We will not “save” our world through the small practices of debate tactics or policies or passing laws. The surest way to save our children, our homes, and our society is by FIRST inspecting the “fruit” of our own lives and then taking responsibility in embracing reality! That’s living a Normal Orthodox Life!
P.S. As a harmonious harp of lofty wisdom from on high and an expounder of things seen in God-inspired ascents, we extol thee, Father Romanos, and we hymn thee. As a trumpet of the gifts that pass the mind of man, do thou rouse us to divine and saving watchfulness, as we cry to thee: Rejoice, O Father elect of God.
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Fr. Barnabas Powell is the parish priest at Sts. Raphael, Nicholas, and Irene Greek Orthodox Church in Cumming, GA. He is also the founder of Faith Encouraged Ministries and produces the Faith Encouraged Daily Devotional on Substack. Watch the Faith Encouraged YouTube Channel here - https://www.youtube.com/@FaithEncouragedTV
