Fruit x Works

[Leonardo Von]

Fruit x Works:

•    “The labor of the righteous tends to life; the fruit of the wicked tends to sin.” (Pro 10:16).

All in all, we read in the Holy Scripture about the “fruit of the righteous” and the “works of iniquity”:

•    “The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life; and he who takes souls is wise.” (Pro 11:30)
•    “Now the works of the flesh are clearly revealed, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lustfulness, idolatry, sorcery, hatreds, fightings, jealousies, angers, rivalries, divisions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkennesses, revelings, and things like these; of which I tell you before, as I also said before, that they who do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.” (Gal 5:19-21). 
•    “But the fruit of the Spirit is: love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faith, meekness, self-control; against such things there is no law.” (Gal 5:22,23).

The reason for this is because, in the life of those who believe in Christ, what they do ought to be an aftermath of what Christ is in them. After all, a tree doesn’t exert to produce fruit. It only receives the provision of the Creator for it and allow Him to produce His fruits to nurture animals, human beings and other trees. The wicked, on the other hand, try to do good works in order to receive award.

Nevertheless, here, we see inverted: “labor of the righteous” and “fruit of the wicked”.

Now I can figure out the reason:

First: to show that, the righteous works with diligence and, at all time, their works leans to Jesus and what He is. The important in the work isn’t only the result, but chiefly the means used to reach the outcome and the souls that were gained, preserved and fed in Christ during all the process: 

•    “Let him who stole steal no more, but rather *let him labor, working* with his hands the thing which is good, *so that he may have something to give to him who needs*.” (Eph 4:28).

Second: to confirm what Jesus and Paul said:

•    “For there is nothing hidden which shall not be revealed; nor became covered, but that it might come to the light.” (Mar 4:22);
•    “Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord comes, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts. And then shall each one have praise of God.” (1Co 4:5);
•    “Likewise also the good works of some are manifest beforehand, and those who are otherwise cannot be hidden.” (1Timothy 5:25).

So, what the wicked is will be evident at the right time. If we don’t jump into the conclusions, we won’t be cheated by ourselves.

To confirm this, have a good day pondering on this passage:

•    “But what do you think? A man had two sons; and he came to the first and said, Son, go work in my vineyard today. He answered and said, I will not. But afterwards he repented and went. And he came to the second and said likewise. And he answered and said, I go, sir; and did not go. Which of the two did the will of his father?...” (Mat 21:28-31).