I want to talk about a very important leadership ability, and that’s reading others’ fruit. Jesus Christ used this to determine what is going on in the situation, and what’s going on in people’s lives. And that’s what we can do as well. But, before we are able to read others’ fruit, we must first read our own fruit. That’s really the objective of this, is to read my own fruit.
I want to share a little incident. When I was a mere young lad, a long time ago, I got into rock music. Maybe some of you also have gotten into the rock music. I wore the t-shirts, I had the posters, and I went to the concerts and everything. I was really into it. But then I noticed that it started to affect me. It started to affect me, it changed the way I thought about myself. It changed the way I thought about others. It even changed my vocabulary, what I said.
I said “OK, it’s time to change”. And taking on something like that, a big change in your life, is going to affect you, it is going to make a change. But is it a good change? So I looked at my goals, what are my goals. My goal is to be a good minister of the Lord Jesus Christ. To the best of my ability, that is my goal. Were these songs, were they promoting my goals? No. They were not. They promoted loneliness and depression and sadness. None of which are fruit of the spirit. They’re not!
So then I said “Okay God, I’m going to prove you, to see if you really work.” You talk a big game, let’s see if you can do it. Malachi 3 says, “Prove me now herewith.” I said: “Okay God, I’m going to prove you.” I’m going to do a little experiment, like Bill Nye. So what I did, I said: “Okay God, I’m not going to listen to this music for a month.” I’m not going to wear the t-shirts. I’m going to take down the posters. I’m going to put them in a box, and put it in the garage, so I don’t see it either. I’m going to have no contact with this. I’m not. I’m also going to turn off my social media, too. Didn’t look at it on Instagram, Facebook, all that stuff. So, I had no contact with it.
How do I feel afterwards, what is my fruit? I tell you, a month later I didn’t even recognize myself. I didn’t recognize myself, because when I unplugged from that negative plug, I was able to get into the Word more, and I grew so fast. And I was like “Wow, this is so great”. I tell you, I haven’t listened to that music since. I forgot all the songs, I don’t know their lyrics anymore. I threw out the t-shirts, threw out the posters. I got rid of it.
Because it wasn’t producing positive effects in my life. Now, I want to be clear. Just because something is producing negative fruit in your life, does not mean you have to get rid of it, cold turkey, and never ever, ever, ever, ever do it again. That’s what I did in my life. That was my choice, but maybe there’s something you just need to limit. Just limit it, or just do it less. Instead of 16 hours a day, just do it 8 hours a day. Just a little bit less.
Because to be able to take the speck out of your brother’s eye, you must first remove the log from your own eye. And as leaders, we want to be able to see that speck. But we have to remove the log from our own eye first. So we have to ask ourselves and be honest, what can I handle and stay in fellowship with God.? That is the question you ask yourself. We have a certain amount of time in a day, a certain amount of activities that we have to do. We ask ourselves, Is this promoting my relationship with God? Be honest with yourself, seriously. Be honest, because you can’t lie to yourself. If you lie to yourself, you’re never going to build the Word in your life. I had to ask myself (I really loved that music, I really did), but it was producing negative fruit, so I removed it. I’m much better for it. I tell you I don’t miss it. You’d think you would, but you won’t.
So we want to, because when we read our own fruit, we are able to read others’ fruit. Then we can find that speck in our brother’s eye. And we can bring them unto the knowledge of truth better, and bring God into that gap.
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