In the Sermon on the Mount, Christ said:

every good tree produces good fruit, but a bad tree produces bad fruit. A good tree can’t produce bad fruit; neither can a bad tree produce good fruit.

Matthew 7:17-18 CSB

Now, what a lot of Christians do with that, is they get all introspective, and go looking for evidence of whether their “fruit” is good or bad.

They tally up good deeds and bad deeds, good thoughts and bad thoughts, good motives and bad motives, productivity or fruitlessness.

It’s a very human thing to do this to ourselves, and with others.

How many times have you heard the adage: I’m not judging, just fruit inspecting?

When you go to inspecting your own fruit, if you’ve got any self-awareness at all, you’re going to find some bad apples and some unfruitful branches in your life.

And if you’re one of those people who’s been blessed … or cursed … with a tender conscience, you’re even going to find spots on your apples that others find sweet and delicious.

Is there any hope, finally, for any of us? Christ says a good tree can’t produce bad fruit.

But we can all confess, if we’re being honest, that there’s still plenty of puny, ugly, and even downright rotten fruit still sprouting from our branches.

Whatever shall we do? Because in the very next breath after He says that a good tree doesn’t bear bad fruit, He says: Every tree that doesn’t produce good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. (Matthew 7:19 CSB)

Here’s one way to really freak yourself out. It’s to treat this like an equation and go: Bad fruit = bad tree = hell. I still have some not very good fruit growing in me. Therefore, I must not be saved.

Of course, most people don’t go nearly that far.

(That’s because popular Christianity has by and large jettisoned the notions of original sin and total depravity. We think we’re being nice by doing that. But it’s really only nice the way not telling someone they smell terrible everyday is nice. It doesn’t help anyone.)

But we do start freaking out over all of our sins we haven’t been quite able to exorcise yet. Or getting ready to volunteer for a dozen good works projects to look busy in case Jesus comes back.

Or some people just give up. Maybe they don’t quit the faith entirely. But they spend their lives quietly fuming in shame, instead of living in the joy and assurance they could have.

I’m not saying there’s never a time for introspection or soul-searching. St. Peter advises believers to make every effort to confirm your calling and election (Peter 1:10 CSB).

And St. Paul said: Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith. Examine yourselves.

But pay close attention to his next words: Or do you yourselves not recognize that Jesus Christ is in you? — unless you fail the test. (Corinthians‬ ‭13:5‬ ‭CSB‬‬)

The real question we must ask and answer is not about our “fruit”—that is the quantity or quality of our good works or our virtues.

The real question is this: Where is my faith? Do I truly believe that I am saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone?

Because your fruit will always be lacking and imperfect. For we all stumble in many ways (James 3:2).

But Christ is the good tree, and by faith, you are a branch grafted onto Him.

He is like a tree planted beside flowing streams that bears its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.
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Psalm 1:3 CSB

Christ is the righteous tree who bears good fruit.

When you are joined to Him by faith, He bears good fruit in you. He says: I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in me and I in him produces much fruit, because you can do nothing without me. (John 15:5 CSB)

When you are joined to Christ by faith you will bear good fruit. Because He has promised you will. And you are His branch, and whatever he does prospers.

You will bear good fruit even in spite of yourself. And often it will grow so subtly you won’t even notice it.

But you will—and indeed my sisters and brothers, you are—not because of anything you’re doing or not doing. But because of His promise.

Because of who you are in Him. You are a branch on the good tree of Christ.

The imperfections yet in your apples, or the buds that haven’t yet blossomed, do not disqualify you from His love, or from true faith.

Because remember: the fruit that’s there, whether it’s in the bud, or it’s an imperfect apple, is still Christ bearing good fruit in you.

And He also said that a bad tree cannot bear good fruit.

So any good fruit—even if it’s just beginning to blossom—is assurance that your faith is genuine and effective. And you are securely joined to Christ, as a branch to a fruitful tree.