“…already the ax is lying at the root of the trees. Therefore, every tree which is not producing good fruit is being cut out and is being thrown into the fire.” Luke 3:9 (WET)
A common source of condemnation for believing followers of Jesus Christ is the verse; “Therefore by their fruits you will know them.” Matthew 7:20. “Fruits” are thought to be undesirable attitudes and behaviours. Soon enough, guilt follows at the “lack of good fruit”.
Then the default thinking is usually to work hard at controlling the “bad fruit”. Self-control is a fruit of the spirit, and the well-meaning believer works tirelessly to exercise self-control to deal with this “bad fruit”. This may produce short-term results. However, after a while discouragement sets in, and the believers have fallen into the trap of the downward spiral of working harder to produce good fruit.
The struggle to produce good fruit is, well…fruitless.
When Jesus said that you will clearly recognise “them” by the fruit produced, He was not talking directly to you. He was talking about false prophets (Matthew 7:15). His comment was not meant to bring you condemnation. Jesus didn’t want to put you on the downward spiral of self-effort and works to produce something. He was warning his hearers at the time to beware of the false prophets who would not recognise Him as the Son of God.
Back to the present…for you today, the new covenant answer to undesirable fruit is NOT to struggle harder, but to cut out the root of the tree!
So how do we do that? The root of all our problems is unbelief. The fruit you have in your life is a direct result of your beliefs. Taking an axe to the root of your belief is to align your belief to the finished work of Christ. It is to synchronise your heart and mind to what Christ has accomplished, and what He has promised.
As your heart aligns correctly, you will find the religious struggle to control undesirable fruit will begin to shrivel up. You end up “cutting it out and throwing it in the fire”. It may take a little time, but this is why you are to be patient! The biggest struggle in the Christian life is the struggle not to struggle! You are letting the grace of God to work in you. Good fruit will begin to appear…and you didn’t do anything other than changing your mind to what God has already changed.
Your spiritual axe is your heart and mind working together. When you get your spiritual axe working, your victory is permanent. You will find there is no undesirable fruit to deal with for it has gone away! There is no battle to fight. You have destroyed the root through lack of nourishment. You have won the battle over your struggles.
When you begin to see yourself as righteous, guilt and condemnation dries up. Got your axe out?
The axe;
- The new covenant method of dealing with undesirable fruit is to deal with the root
- Faith and belief is the root of any life and it produces the fruit of some kind, good or bad
- Your axe is your heart and mind changing to what God has already changed
- Your axe is your belief working for you to produce effortless good fruit.
Peter C Hall 