Known by their Fruit

“You can tell what they are by what they do" (Matthew 7:15 CEV). With these words Jesus explained to his listeners how they can differentiate between true and false prophets.

For a long time, I heard this verse being explained to reflect the opposite of what Jesus said. Religious guys out there have been using the above verse to judge all others by any mere mistake or “SIN” done by those “others”. But they missed that the mentioned verse comes in a context were Jesus said just a few minutes before “Don’t condemn others, and God won’t condemn you” (Matthew 7: 1 CEV).

But what did Jesus want us to do, saying these words?!!!

For me, I believe that Jesus wants us to go through our whole “system of Beliefs”, our “prophet” and check the outcome of such “prophet”. Every bad that comes out of our “system of Beliefs” is a proof that there is something wrong with our system that need to change. For this reason, I believe that behavior is the result of our way of thinking. If there are any behavioral deficiencies, then we have to change our system of Belief.

We can use the above as a test to our religious, political, social or even financial beliefs. Just look around you:

-         Is my faith positively impacting my life?

-         Is my faith leading me to love others, regardless if they are different in their color, race, nationality, religion or political stance?

-         Is my face leading me to value human life? Environment? Society?

-         Is my faith giving me peace with who I am, who God is and who others are?

Hope the above will lead you to think, and think and think…

Jesus is Lord