Judging… You can know a tree by it’s fruit.
After someone has handed down a verdict about someone else, I’ve heard ‘I’m not judging, I’m just inspecting fruit’. I confess, I’m guilty of using that excuse myself…judging fruit.
But I believe God has shown me the fruit of my own heart in that matter. “..the fruit of The Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control..’ (Gal. 5:22-23) I don’t see fruit inspecting in that list, nor does that list look like the attitude of my fruit inspecting heart. In fact, it might fit the list of a few verses earlier in that chapter of Galatians ! “discord…jealousy…selfish ambition …dissensions …factions…envy” (verses 19-21)
It is true that our character is displayed in the fruit we bear out in our lives. But what kind of fruit is born out of the fruit inspector? When I inspect another person’s fruit, what kind of attitude is in my own heart, and do I live up to that standard myself? Do I criticize or condemn them for not having Grade A fruit, when my own fruit is not Grade A?
And let’s not be deceived…we’re not grading apples against apples….we’re grading fruit. It doesn’t matter that ‘I’ am not guilty in the fruit/thing I’m inspecting in someone else. I may not have that particular rotten apple to deal with in my own life, but I’ve got some rotten peaches.
The best lessons learned are often those learned out of negative examples. I don’t want to be compromising about sin, but neither do I want to be blind to the sin in my own life. When I see rotten fruit in someone else, I want to see it for what it is, but have a heart to encourage and challenge them to a higher standard….not just chunk it out with the trash.
And I want to never, ever…. have that kind of fruit in my own life.
