What does it mean
that you will know them
by their fruit?
Jesus said in Matthew 7, "Judge not, that you be not judged." Someone recently accused me of judging them because I called them out, based on their fruit I saw on display.
I asked the Lord, "What's the difference in judging someone, and knowing them because I see their fruit? Am I judging when I see fruit and respond to what I see?"
In my opinion, we can't always know someone else’s heart, but we can make wise assessments about them by observing the regular fruit they produce in their lives (in other words... behavior). If you keep catching someone in a lie over and over, that person's fruit reveals they're a liar.
Make no mistake, we all stumble from time to time, and may go through seasons of bearing little fruit.
1 John 1:8 (NKJV) If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
True children of God have been transformed, and the fruit of our lives is the evidence of that transformation. Apple trees don’t produce bananas, and strawberry plants don’t produce figs. This fact of nature is also true in the spiritual realm. We can identify those whose hearts have been redeemed, by the fruit we see on their branches.
So what did Jesus mean when He said, "Judge not, that you be not judged"? Glad you asked!😉
Jesus is saying here that we should not judge the inner motives of another person's heart. They may do things differently than you, but it may be for reasons you won't understand. The mouth does, however, reveal what's in the heart. So if they reveal it, then believe it.
In First Corinthians 5, the apostle Paul told the church of Corinth to judge those who were being sexually immoral in their assembly, and not to keep company with them. If the fruit is plain to see, that's not judging, that's awareness... but don't judge what you don't know.
In conclusion, if we spend all our time judging others' faults, behavior, and sin - and not deal concretely with our own, Jesus called that hypocrisy. (Matthew 7:1-5)
Dee Richardson, Voice of the Dove