What Does Your Fruit Say About You?

Matthew 7:15-20New King James Version (NKJV)

You Will Know Them by Their Fruits

15 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. 16 You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? 17 Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Therefore by their fruits you will know them.

I don't know about you, but I'm getting pretty fed up with what I see on social media (specifically my FB feed) everyday. So much so, I've deleted the app from my phone and have decided to limit myself to 10 minutes in the am and 10 minutes in the pm - and that has even dwindled down to 5 minutes. I just get disgusted by what I see. I'd say a good 90% of what I read is just plain negative and drama. Either I need new friends, or we need new hearts because the sad fact is that most of my 600 friends consider themselves good people/Christians - yet what is reflected in the things they post are filled with hate, divisiveness, and vindictiveness.

I hadn't really minded it until it affected me in a real way over the weekend. I won't go through the ugly details here since my aim is not to embarrass anyone. The story in as concise a manner is this:

I made an honest mistake on Sunday. Everything I had done was ok, but the other person I worked with, not so much. When it was pointed out, I immediately took action to correct it. This was not something I had to do since the wronged person would never have known, and it wasn't something I did, but right is right. I explained the situation, and he was extremely gracious - we chatted for a while - and no harm no foul kind of thing. All was right with the world. But, no - no it wasn't.

Instead, a "good Christian friend" decided it was her job to tell me what a sorry person I was, and berate me. She tried to twist and turn what happened into a narrative that made me to be the worst person in the world and proceeded to treat me, not with love or kindness, but with venomous hate that I really have never seen before in my life. It was awful. She was treating me like this was her prized treasure and I purposely ruined it. She was acting like I wronged her - when in fact, I wronged nobody, and the person who could have been offended, was unbothered by what happened and treated it like it was - a mistake.

She was so awful to me that I broke out in hives. Not just little itchy things but huge welts all over my body for a day and a half that no amount of Benadryl would help. I was a wreck. My husband read what she wrote and his words were, "No Christian does that, she's the spawn of Satan!" I think the reason it has bothered me is because her actions were not in character with the image she portrays. Maya Angelou says, "when someone shows you who they are the first time, believe them." Boy, did this person really show me.

As I've wrestled with everything these last few days, I keep reading through those verses in Matthew, and reflecting on how our posts on social media reflect what is in our heart. How it has become more of a mirror of who we are than we think. And, I admit, I get caught up in the negativity and the politics of it all as well. Before I know it, I'm making generalizations and developing an us vs. them attitude. I'm objectifying those who don't take my point of view, and devaluing who they are as a person and as a child of God - who like me, is in need of a Savior.

It's so easy when we are sitting behind our keyboard to say what we want without fear of retribution or accountability. It used to be easy to respond negatively to people you don't know, but something has changed. Now, we don't care who we are bullying, abusing, and being cruel to.

This last month, I've lived through Hurricane Harvey. I've seen the people and helped the people the hurricane displaced. In all of the people I've encountered, whether they were volunteers or those affected did I hear, "what are your politics? Your religion? Your legal status" Nor, did race affect the outcome. People were there to help. It was, "what can we do to help you?" It has been true Christianity in action. It's been a big reminder to me that we are all the same. We may have different politics, beliefs, colors of skin, but we are all in need of love and acceptance.

John 13:35 says that the world will know us (Christ's disciples) by our love.

My challenge to us all is to step back from our computer screens and to become a fruit bearer of love and a reflection of Christ because when you are truly loving as Christ loved, you are looking into the eyes of another person, and instead of wanting to be right, tear that person down, you want to share Jesus by being his hands and feet.

I'm going to make mistakes. I'm going to be self-righteous at times. I'm going to miss the mark more times than I care to admit. What I'm not going to do though is forget that if it weren't for Christ living in me, I'd be nothing - just another sinner bound for hell, and because of Christ in me, I'm no better than anyone else, but I can love like no one else and strive to be what He has called us to do - love!