Each According to Its Kind

Each According to Its Kind.  The myth that continues to deceive many, “The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence,” was cleverly debunked by whoever it was who said, “The grass is always greener wherever you water it.” Unless the Lord suspends his own natural law, which he has been known to do from time to time, we can typically expect his pattern of Creation to hold: “bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, on the earth” (Gen. 1:11, 12). What grows is what we intend to grow, except for crabgrass, which always sneaks its way into everything green.

Literally or figuratively, when we cultivate the soil, sow the good seed, eliminate the weeds, nurture the process, and harvest a crop, fruit bears fruit “according to its kind.” The end of growth is connected to its beginning, whether toward good or toward evil. Life begets life. Corruption begets corruption. Involuntarily, a flood of clichés follows: “You made your bed, now lie in it.” “Stupid is as stupid does.” “Garbage in, garbage out.” “You can’t make a silk purse from a sow’s ear.” “Get a taste on your own medicine.”

Christ applied his own Creation principle to the important skill of discerning the religious leaders, “You will recognize them by their fruits” (Matt. 7:16, 20). “A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit” (Matt. 7:18). Similarly, Paul wrote to the church about evaluating the fruit of a person’s life to discern its true source, as either from the flesh or from the Spirit: “The works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality . . . . But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace” (Gal. 5:19, 22a). “Whatever one sows, that will he also reap” (Gal. 6:7). Hosea said the same thing another way: “They sow the wind, and shall reap the whirlwind” (Hos. 8:7). James, too, picks up the refrain: “And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace” (James 3:18). Peace begets peace, “bearing fruit . . . each according to its kind” (Gen. 1:11, 12).

Faced with an incongruence between one’s visible fruit in life and one’s stated values in life, God throws his weight of wisdom to the visible fruit as the true identifier of the person instead of hollow words and best intentions. When we evaluate our own fruit, let alone when we evaluate someone else’s fruit, and discover a divergence, it is an opportunity to “repent and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:15), knowing that “if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). The greatest problem with an inconsistent life is not inconsistency but the unwillingness to repent and turn to the Lord in faith, especially when we know the truth that could set us free. The antidote to evil fruit, then, is not to try harder, but to stop trying and start believing in Jesus.