By their fruit you will recognize them

By Jennifer Moreno

The moment you proclaim that you are Christian, just prepare yourself for a lot of heartache and scrutiny. Not everyone will accept you with open arms because you love the Lord and that is the truth. But this isn’t my point, hang in there, my point is that the moment you show yourself as Christian you better be ready to be judged, judged by your actions and what you represent. And in part the outer world has a right to judge us Christians based on our results.

If you become a Christian you are essentially saying that Jesus Christ is your Lord and savior and that you are new creation in Christ. You old self is no longer there and your flesh no longer dictates your life, but G-d’s will does. Jesus is love and if he is in your life, then we should reflect Him right?

I’m not saying we’re going to be perfect once we become Christian, but if the outside world does not see a mere glimpse of improvement in your life, what kind of testimony are you really giving?

If that person continues to be the same old self, greedy, envious, dishonest, spiteful, gossipy and so forth, then we can only draw a conclusion that the person’s conversion was just merely imaginary.

Mathew 7:16 says – “By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles?” In other words, the proof is in the pudding.

In this sense, people are in all their right to judge Christians by their results. Luke 6:43 explains that there are two kinds of people in this world – “A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit.”

As Christians we have a huge responsibility to bear good fruit as much as we can. When we Christians behave badly and no one can truly differentiate you from someone who doesn’t have Jesus in their heart …  something is not aligning and we are making Christianity unbelievable to the world through our negligent actions.

We are giving people grounds to talk in a way that they will doubt Christianity all together. You can say Jesus this and Jesus that…but none of it will matter because of your results.

Christians we may not all have it together, no one does, but at least we can make an effort to represent Jesus Christ in the way he is asking us to do so. We can love our enemies, we can make a step to becoming a better person, be generous, be honest. And if you have nothing good to say, don’t say anything at all.

Be wise with your words, be kind and most of all be full of joy. As Christians we must walk with a light in our lives not walking depressed and like victims. We must walk with peace in our hearts and be the peace makers. We must give unconditional love to people in order to reach people so they themselves will want to come to Jesus. So that the outside world can see that Jesus Christ truly has transformed us, so that when people see that change in you, they too will want that in their lives.

Thank you and G-d bless!