Digging Deeper – A Tree by its Fruit

Every day when I get home from work, my son attempts to get me to jump on the trampoline with him. After deflecting for a few minutes, I typically resign myself to accepting my temporary role as an acrobat. Tonight was no different. However, afterward, when our bouncing had subsided and we were lying on our backs on the trampoline looking through the overhead foliage, he said, “Look at all the different types of leaves. That tree is different than that tree and that tree. There are at least four types of trees here!”

He was right. I had never given it much thought until then. But looking up into that canopy, we spotted leaves according to their kind: the five-pointed, star-shaped leaf of the sweet gum; the oblong, rounded lobes of the oak; the three-pointed, sawtooth notches of the red maple; and the long, bushy pine needles.

“You can tell what kind of tree it is by its leaf,” I said. The words had scarcely left my mouth before I heard the voice of Jesus booming in my mind: “For each tree is known by its own fruit” (Luke 6:44).

Of course, the analogy is not exactly apples to apples (pun intended), for we were looking at leaves and not fruit, but the principle stands — people are recognized by their actions and character. A genuine relationship with Jesus will produce fruit by the power of the Holy Spirit (look to Galatians 5:22–23 for a list of the fruit of the Spirit). Conversely, a person without a genuine relationship with Jesus will not produce fruit, regardless of their nominal affiliation with Him.

This should be cause for self-examination. Are we bearing fruit? And, if so, what is the fruit? Are we connected to the Gardener, the Life-Giver, who alone is able to nourish us?

It is amazing the things you can learn just by saying yes to jumping on the trampoline.