You Can't Fix a Tree by Yelling at the Fruit

I’ve got a buddy named Jay who knows more about fruit trees than anyone I’ve ever met. Rose bushes, apple trees, you name it. If you’ve got a rose bush problem in Carter County, Jay’s your guy.

Now I’ve never put an apple seed in the ground and seen apples the next day. That’s not how it works. You plant it, you water it, you wait. The fruit comes from the root system, not from how loud you yell at the branches.

But we forget this the second we run into someone whose life is a mess.

Someone walks in carrying the weight of a broken home, a history of addiction, an exterior that makes religious people nervous. They’re wearing the proverbial black leather coat with spiky blonde hair. And our immediate reaction is to step in and fix their behavior. We want them to clean up, act right, and look the part before they can sit with us.

Stop Yelling at the Branches

Here’s the spiritual trap. We think our job as Christians is to condemn bad fruit. We look at someone’s life, see the chaos, and start pointing out every single thing they’re doing wrong. But you cannot fix a dying tree by yelling at its branches.

When we demand immediate behavior modification, we completely miss the heart of God. The gospel is specifically designed for the person whose life is falling apart. Just because you don’t understand their background or like their aesthetic doesn’t give you the right to stand back in judgment.

The moment you start to condemn the tree, you’ve lost God’s heart for the person standing in front of you. Yes, the fruit might be incredibly unhealthy right now. But if you can introduce them to the Living Water, Jesus will change the root system. And when the root system changes, the fruit will naturally follow. God doesn’t just demand we act better. He takes our broken lives, even the grip of addiction, and begins repurposing the hardware from the inside out.

Water the Roots

Mission This Week: Stop trying to manage the behavior of the broken people around you. Stop yelling at the fruit. When someone walks into your life carrying the heavy baggage of their past, your job is not to be their moral supervisor. Your job is to value them exactly where they are and point them to the root. Introduce them to Jesus, and let Him do the heavy lifting of transforming the tree.

See you Sunday,
Pastor Jeremy