I grew up in a countryside village where my grandmother had many trees planted. She had a good variety of them: mango, guava, coconut, tamarind, oranges, etc. One of her favorite was an avocado tree right next to our house. It produced huge avocados that were buttery in texture and delicious. She would recruit me and some of my cousins to fetch the fruit from the tree.
One season, she called me to help her find the avocados on her favorite tree. To her surprise and mine, they were very small, sparse, and sickly! She gave it some time and we returned to the tree looking for fruit, but there was no change. My grandmother was concerned. The tree that had been one of the main producers had bad fruit and it was becoming barren. She gave it another year, and called me to check out the tree during its season but the fruit was still bad.
Grandma called a couple of friends who were tree experts and they found the problem. The tree had been attacked by a bug that was living inside the trunk. It had eaten the insides of the trunk making it hollow. It looked good on the outside, but it was dying and could not produce fruit anymore. She asked them to cut it down and burn it.
I can tell false prophets from the people of God by their fruit. The false prophet is like the hollow avocado tree that looks like the real thing, but produces bad fruit. The people of God are called to bear fruit - the fruits of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Am I producing good fruit? Lord, help me be a tree that bears good fruit.
