Known by its Fruit

Often people use being tired or hungry or stressed as an excuse for poor behavior. If we snap at someone or say something rudely, we explain that it was only said because "I didn't get any sleep last night."

Sometimes we even go so far as to blame others for our behavior. I might come home angry because a teacher was unfair in grading, or a friend insulted me. But is the behavior of others a valid excuse for my own selfishness, impoliteness, or resentment?

I read a metaphor for this last night. If you squeeze a sponge and get water on the floor, someone else might come along and wonder why you squeezed the sponge. The reality is that no water would have gotten on the floor if the sponge wasn't soaking wet to begin with. In the same way, people try to blame their faults on the squeeze of bad circumstances or another person's unkindness, but the squeeze merely reveals what was already in their hearts.

The article states, "In the same way, when we get squeezed by the circumstances of life (an inevitability), we ooze the overflow of our hearts. We usually don't like what we see, so we blame the squeeze. We blame the circumstances. "I wouldn't have reacted that way if I hadn't been tired." Or, "I only said that because I was hot, thirsty, and uncomfortable." That's our default setting: blame the circumstances.

But Jesus tells us the overflow is what's already in our hearts. Being tired, hot, thirsty, or uncomfortable are only "revealers"; they aren't the reason we react in anger. We're angry because anger has taken root in our hearts."

"For a good tree does not bear bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. For every tree is known by its own fruit. For men do not gather figs from thorns, nor do they gather grapes from a bramble bush. A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks." Luke 6:43-45