Today's daily lesson comes from Matthew chapter 7 verses 15 through 19:
15 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. 16 You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17 So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. 18 A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
On Saturday a group of us from church went out to the orchard east of town to pick apples. My kids spent about half an hour in scorching heat picking apples from the bottoms of the trees where they could reach and then putting them into buckets. Before I went to weigh and pay for the apples I sorted through the bucket and separated the apples good from bad. It was about half and half.
Discernment is a grown ups' job. There is judgment involved. I know Jesus said not to judge, but he also said to "Judge with right judgment," and to "the measure you give will be the measure you get".
Spiritually mature persons have learned to stop expecting grapes to come from thorn bushes and to stop trying to gather figs out amongst thorns. And in doing so they've spared themselves a lot of pain also.
We must learn to judge a tree by its fruit and come to the realization that just because a piece of fruit is low hanging and available doesn't mean it's good. In fact, if we aren't careful, it may be the one bad apple that could spoil our whole bunch.
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