“A tree is identified by its fruit. If a tree is good, its fruit will be good. If a tree is bad, its fruit will be bad.” Matthew 12:33

That’s pretty simple and easy to understand. Raised in Michigan, I can tell a cherry tree from an apple tree. The blossoms are different in the spring, and their fruit is quite different at harvest time.

Now, in Florida, I can tell the difference between a lemon tree and an orange tree. Both have useful fruit but are very different. But have you ever had a tree that just stopped bearing? We have.

We used to have the most beautiful white grapefruit tree with the sweetest grapefruits in our front yard. But after the 5 hurricanes went through Florida in one summer, it simply stopped producing fruit, and the fruit it had was icky. The stress of all those storms changed the tree, and it stopped bearing, so we had to cut it down.

What a lesson for the body of Christ. Let’s not be stressed out over life. Stay in the Word, speak what God says, do what God says to do, rest in His faithfulness, and bear fruit.

Let’s not just take up space in the world, being like the world, talking like the world, having what the world has. Jesus said we would have tests, trials, and tribulations, but “be of good cheer! I’ve overcome the world!” (John 16:33)

We overcome by the blood of the Lamb and the Word of our testimony and don’t love life so much that it keeps you from bearing much fruit.

Ok, time to go be fruity! That’s what I do best.

Sandy G