Bearing Good Fruit

“Jesus said to his disciples: ‘Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but underneath are ravenous wolves. By their fruits you will know them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Just so, every good tree bears good fruit, and a rotten tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a rotten tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. So by their fruits you will know them.”  (Matthew 7:15-20)

Today’s gospel makes everything seem black and white, good trees bear only good fruit and bad trees bear only bad fruit. But we are all shades of gray. Fundamentally, all of us are good because we are made in God’s image, and while this is true, we all have borne bad fruit. We have all been that wolf in sheep’s clothing seeming to have good intentions yet our motives are anything but good.

Discernment is needed in our daily lives and we need to call upon God’s wisdom to help us in this discernment. The devil is very good at making things that are not good, appear to be good. He is that wolf in sheep’s clothing and he will never bear good fruit. Sometimes we think something is just a “little” sin but there is no such thing. Sin always leads us away from God. It creates a barrier that separates us from Him. Often times it’s the little things that we need to be most on guard against. We may stand firm against “big” sins like abortion or adultery but it’s the little sins that are more insidious. They take hold of our hearts and keep us in bondage. Just as the tiny mustard seed grows into a tree, the tiny sins can grow into full chains, or millstones that drag us into darkness and hold us there.

Remain in me, as I remain in you, says the Lord; whoever remains in me will bear much fruit.  This is how we are able to bear good fruit. We must remain in God’s love. Only God’s love is perfect and he is the only one who always bears good fruit. An Examination of Conscience at the end of the day is a good way to look prayerfully into our hearts and see what areas we were strong in our faith and what areas did we struggle. Where are the places that we fell into sin? Once we identify these areas, we can invite the Holy Spirit in to help us and provide for us the gifts that we need to prevent this from happening again. Do we need patience so that we don’t lose our temper and say hurtful things to others? Do we need humility so our pride doesn’t cause us to be judgmental? Whatever grace we need to overcome our sins will be given to us by the Holy Spirit, we just need to ask for them and be willing to receive the grace in order for us to bear good fruit.