Inspector

I’m a huge fan of detective shows. I’m also reading a book about Sherlock Holmes, the great British detective written from the perspective of Dr. Watson, his helper/partner.  One of the things I’m learning in the process of being entertained is that there are clues everywhere that are pretty obvious. The clues that really tell things about the situation are just as obvious to the person trained to see them or at least look for them.

Jesus speaks about being an inspector of fruit. Earlier in the same chapter, He’s speaking against judging people. I think He’s speaking to judging their motives. Now He turns to inspecting the fruit of others lives. Check this out…

I enjoy tasting fresh fruit. I’m not an expert by any means, but I love to eat lots of variety of fruits.  One of my favorites are oranges. I think when Jesus was speaking of bearing fruit, he was not trying to be silly. He was being educational. He was encouraging me to not be gullible. If something sounds too good to be true, I should look into it.  I think He was encouraging me to look behind the message of others to see if they are bearing the fruit of their own message. Are they “practicing what they preach” or are they simply “windbags” trying to make themselves look important. I think that there are politicians in the church as well as in Washington. False teachers and false prophets are people who have their own agenda and it’s not the same as the Lord’s agenda. I need to inspect the truth of the one speaking and verify their message by their fruit!