“Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is recognized by its fruit” (Matthew 12:33)
I was recently involved in a misunderstanding in my office that I found to be a real source of embarrassment.
The particulars are not important because the embarrassment that I experienced had nothing to do with the nature of the misunderstanding. I was embarrassed because the circumstances that surrounded the incident make me look as if I was the farthest thing from a Christian.
I know that I did not commit the infraction about which I was questioned. It cut directly across my Christian principles. Yet, I could offer no explanation for what had transpired. I didn’t even remember the incident and far too much time had lapsed for the specifics to ring a bell, 1 looked about as guilty as one could look.
The shame I felt came from the feeling that a lot of what I professed to believe as a Christian seemed to stand in direct contrast to what I appeared to have done. The fact I could offer no explanation didn’t help matters.
It was right then and there that I learned a very important lesson about how we sometimes rush to judgment in our Christian relationships. You see, while my faith is real, I realized that others may question the sincerity of my convictions from that one experience with me. I also realized that I often size up Christians the same way.
What does the Bible say about such matters? Is it okay to in our Christian relationships to question salvation in another Christian because of the mistakes or misdeeds that we see them commit? And if it isn’t okay, then how do we put those mistakes into perspective?
I don’t think it’s our place to question whether salvation in another Christian is real. That’s a matter of the heart and the Bible us that only God “knows what is in every human heart”. (I Kings 8:39)
But Jesus tells us that when we become Christians, there should be outward and visible signs of our Christian faith at work in our lives. “By their fruit you will recognize them…A good tree cannot bear bad fruit and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit.” (Matthew 7:16a and 18)
There is no doubt that God expects us to look for fruit in the life of a Christian. After all, Jesus didn’t say that He would know them by their fruit. He says, “You will recognize them”. Obviously, God wants Christians to exercise discernment in their relationships with other Christians.
The mistakes we often make in that process, however, is that we allow one bad apple to spoil the whole barrel. When Jesus said “fruit”, he meant fruit in the plural sense. In other words, the quality of our treatment to Christ will be shown by repeated and continuous examples of our faith at work. We should never make up our minds from one isolated incident in spite of what the circumstances may suggest. Remember, the Bible says, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23)
I spoke with my wife about this column just before I sat down to prepare it. “We all try to police the lives of other Christians,” she told me. “Maybe we should write a few more warning tickets before we drag them off to court.”
Share on Facebook