FOCUS Day Forty-Six | Matthew 7:13-20 by Abigail
DAY FORTY-SIX | Matthew 7:13-20 by Abigail
“Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.
“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore by their fruits you will know them.
Choosing the Right Tree
In this passage, Jesus tells His followers that there is a big difference between the narrow way of following Him and the broad way that leads to destruction. He then goes on to talk about fruit and trees, and how we can determine whether a tree is good or not. Over the last couple of years, this Scripture has become really meaningful to me.
I read this story when I was a child, and I liked it because I have always liked trees, But I didn’t really get the meaning. Then, just before my thirteenth birthday, I read it again, and it really spoke to where I was at. Something was coming awake in my heart of how much I needed to make sure that I was intentionally growing the right kind of fruit.
Of course, I had things that I was working through, but I remember praying how I really wanted to enter my teenage years with my heart on fire for God. I knew this was different from where a lot of my friends were coming from, but I really wanted to take my relationship with Jesus to heart. Some of my friends that were my age were often confused and sometimes mildly annoyed at the “weird ways” that I would act in certain situations.
Sometimes, it was hard to stay intentional about going in following Jesus when I was hanging around these friends. It was during this time that I also noticed that my generation has a problem with gossiping. Sometimes, they are not Christlike in how they treat others.
The unintentional peer-pressure and the exposure to the gossip made my intentionality weaken. Without realizing it, I found myself starting to slowly but surely follow along with the way that they were acting. I could sense the beginnings of a bad habit forming. I started to question if me living a life that was set apart for Jesus would make any real difference in the world.
But then, I remembered these words from Jesus, and they were so encouraging and helped to give me strength. I remembered that the fruit that I really wanted came from being intentional with Jesus. I wanted to keep the good fruit coming, and I didn’t want to let even the smallest seed of giving in to grow into a tree of bad habits.
Now I see how important that it was for me to fight for intentionality and to be set apart. Jesus is always calling us into being different from the world. In John 15:18-25 He says this:
“If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they kept My word, they will keep yours also. But all these things they will do to you for My name’s sake, because they do not know Him who sent Me.
Jesus even says that, “You are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.” I really need to remember that I am not from this world. I shouldn’t be surprised when my friends think that I am strange. I shouldn’t even be surprised when the world hates or persecutes Christians.
I do know that if I start to conform to the patterns of this world, my fruit will show it. Jesus consistently called His followers to be different. They really stood out from the world. In the story that I told about me and some of my friends, I really had started to let the enemy tell me that it was fine to gossip as long as what I was saying wasn’t mean or false. By God’s grace, Jesus brought His light of truth onto that lie.
Now, looking back, I can see plainly the attack from the enemy to try to weaken the areas where Jesus wanted me to have the best fruit. And one of those areas is being different from the world. Ever since I was in first and second grade, I can remember times when I would talk to my dad and cry about the fact that I was so different. I felt like I didn’t ever fit in and that some of the kids at my school would often call me weird. One example was of my worshipping while I did my school work.
One time, as I was crying about this, my dad said, “Why are you trying to fit in when Jesus made you to stand out?” Looking back, I can see that standing out is one of the places where I have had the most good fruit. And when I fight standing out, the fruit isn’t very good, and I start to fall deeper into the lies and schemes of the enemy.
Jesus has over and over again pointed out the gold in myself and others, and the devil will try to go after the things God has big plans and callings for us to do. Jesus is always wanting us to have good fruit, but those areas are often the places where the devil fights the most. We can either choose God’s plan for good fruit in our lives or let Satan tempt us into conforming to the world.
My prayer is that we will recognize the ways that Jesus has called us to stand out for Him. I pray that we will understand that sometimes those important places are contested, and that we can fight for future good fruit in those areas. I pray we won’t let the devil steal that good fruit away from us.
