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Classic Illustrator
"You will fully recognize them by their fruits. Do people pick grapes from thorns, or figs from thistles?" (Matt 7:16 AMP)
Three years ago, after a night of fierce wind and thunderstorms, a willow branch found itself broken away from its mother tree. As he was lying there alone on the ground, condemned to a horrible death of starvation and dehydration, he wondered what life could have been, if he had remained united with the Mother tree. He had no hope. His outcome was clear. No help could come from anywhere. He was going to die!
All of a sudden, he overheard a screech of tires and two eagerly young boys running towards him. Before he knew what was happening, he felt himself being lifted up into the air and transported with great care to the trunk of the car with screeching tires, where he was laid down.
A short distance later, the trunk was once more opened again, and again he was lifted out and moved to an unknown destination. As he laid on the ground, he noticed that these two young lads had brought a bag with them of the purest dirt he had ever seen. Not far away, he could hear the sounds of a ditch flowing with plenty of fresh water. As he tried to lift his head, he saw two boys digging a hole with the help of their daddy.
"These are nice people", he thought. "They took the time to prepare my burial place! I won't die unknown in an unknown place. These are good people!"
To his astonishment, however, he wasn't buried in the hole. Instead he felt himself being planted in that hole filled with the purest dirt. Hands were very carefully firming up the dirt around him, and soon he received a long drink of water.
"Don't they know that trees don't grow from broken branches?" He wondered. "Trees grow from the fruit that falls to the ground!"
To his amazement, day after day, these caring boys watered him, and he never had a week go by without one of them giving him a hug. He felt himself loved and cared for, and to his astonishment, roots started to grow out of his limbs! A miracle had happened! From an assured death he was released and through the help of these loving boys a new life had been provided to him.
This year my boys celebrated that branch's third birthday and unknown to all of us, that weeping willow branch had become a tree that has started to bloom and carry its own fruit. Wow! What love can do!
God is in the business of miracles and He does the same thing to all of those who are lost in this world and whose destiny is hopeless. He picks them up and carefully embraces them with His love. If they accept Him into their life, they find themselves miraculously transformed by His grace and before they know it, fruit is forth coming. Their life is filled with love and radiates with divine love.
One may wonder what kind of fruit Jesus is talking about in Matthew 7. The answer is found in that chapter itself.
To the amazement of many, Jesus first makes sure that we know what that fruit is not.
Matt 7:20-23 "Therefore, you will fully know them by their fruits. Not everyone who says to Me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father Who is in heaven. Many will say to Me on that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name and driven out demons in Your name and done many mighty works in Your name? And then I will say to them openly (publicly), I never knew you; depart from Me, you who act wickedly." AMP
The fruit is clearly not just being a believer and is not just driving out demons in Jesus' name and doing mighty works in Jesus' name. But if these are not the fruit referred here, what could it be?
Very simple:
1. Matt 7:23 "I never knew you." AMP That fruit is having a personal relationship with Jesus.
2. Matt 7:24 "So everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts upon them [obeying them] will be like a sensible (prudent, practical, wise) man who built his house upon the rock." AMP That fruit is acting upon Jesus' words and obey His voice.
3. Matt 7:25 "And the rain fell and the floods came and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock." AMP That fruit is finding it's foundation on the rock of Jesus Christ.
In one word the fruit referred to here is living the real life of a Christian. What is a Christian, but one who follows Jesus Christ in everything he does? Jesus is the One who makes that fruit possible in our life, not us. As long as we depend on Him and develop a personal relationship with Him, fruit will be fort coming!
Is your fruit forth coming? If not, come to Jesus and accept His invitation of becoming your personal friend. Fruit is an assured thing for those having their foundation in Him!
Rob Chaffart
Director, Answers2Prayer Ministries
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