The Mirror of the Word and other works by C.E. White can be purchased on her website, cewhitebooks.com or on Amazon

“You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes, nor figs from thistles, are they? So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit.”

—Matthew 7:16–18

The truth of our Christianity is made evident by bearing good fruit, and the Bible defines that fruit as love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self–control (Galatians 5:22–23).

Many self–righteous people are proud of their version of Christianity because of all the things they don’t do. You won’t catch them drinking, smoking, or cursing, and they show disdain for anyone who does.

But we can follow a list of rules perfectly without exhibiting most of those fruits of the Spirit. The Pharisees were the embodiment of this problem, and Christ called them “blind guides,” “hypocrites,” and “white–washed tombs” (Matthew 23:13–36).

Christianity cannot be boiled down to only a list of dos or don’ts. I know many proudly self–righteous people who primarily bear strife, anger, selfishness, bitterness, scorn, comparison, and discontentment, also influencing others to believe this is acceptable to God (Matthew 15:14; Matthew 23:13,15).

Their rule–following is not bearing good fruit; they have missed the Lord’s heart.

We are absolutely supposed to be obedient to God’s commands, but doing so in the manner God intended will grow the fruit of the Spirit rather than inhibit them.

We can test our fruit by watching what it produces both in our own lives and in the lives of those around us. Are we producing love or selfishness? Patience or discontentment? Gentleness or harsh criticism?

It’s easy to see the fruit when we’re honest with ourselves.

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