When I was a kid my parents were always leery of my “hanging” with certain people. It didn’t matter what defense I used, if this person didn’t “measure up” then I wasn’t allowed to be around them. My mom would always say, “What fruit is he or she producing?” Clearly, she was pulling the verse from Matthew 7:16: “By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles?”
My smart-mouth defense was “We’re not tree’s, we’re people.”
But as I got older, it all started to make sense. God has a funny way of confirming and re-confirming himself in the Bible just in case we were too thick-headed to grab it the first time.
In Galatians 5, we’re exhorted to live a life that is led by the Spirit [of God]. In verses 22 and 23 we see the fruit appears again:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.”
Fruit, in the Bible and in life, is a by-product and reproduction of its origin. Apple trees produce apples, grape vines produce grapes, peach trees produce peaches and so on…Luke 6:43: “No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit”. You’ll never see an apple grow on a peach tree unless it’s been crossed and manipulated, sometimes by nature but usually by man. This manipulation is called a hybrid – a mixture of two original things. These hybrids don’t often work out and should never reproduce themselves again because there will be deformities and abnormalities. But even in a hybrid situation, the fruit is a mixture and never it’s true class.
A person can only fake, fake for only so long until the true nature of who they are comes out. As I got older, I began to stand back and observe people, studying them before I took them into my life. There are people I’m not friends with today because of this.
I wish I could say I never experienced fake, selfish and manipulating people but you never really know a person until you spend time with them and study their actions and reactions to the world around them. Pressure and stress has an awesome effect on revealing the true nature of a person, but sometimes it’s too late. You’ve taken them in and you care for them now as they spread their poison and disease all around your life. And hybrid people are the worst because they jump between fences to show you two versions of themselves and nothing is actually true or original.
Today, I’m even slower to make “friends”. I won’t invest myself so quickly and sometimes not at all because I’m waiting for the fruit. Christians are no exception – in fact, I watch them closer and study them harder. There’s too many hybrids running around and I need the real thing in my life. I’ve still got some work to do on myself so I don’t need anyone to cross-contaminate my walk. I may be lonelier but I have peace and joy. I’m learning self-control, forbearance and contentment in my current situation.
I guess I’m making sure that, one day, my fruit is good enough to eat.
Becoming Invincible 