Love Without Hypocrisy - 3

We have come quickly to our third admonition. May we keep looking to God the Holy Spirit, to keep us learning and living. May we fully and ardently depend on Him to keep us genuine, free from all pretence and hypocrisy.  

Third Admonition - Cling to what is good.  

Savour this picture of vines clinging to trees, or of orchids that latch themselves to trunks of large trees. They all grow totally from the trees to which they cling. One of the things that strikes me, with mind-piercing truth, is that the clinging plants never touch the soil or earth. What I mean is this. Whether a vine or orchid has roots or not, its roots or whatever it possesses, do not directly go into the richly nourished soil. These simply affix themselves to the trunk of the tree upon which they cling.

The soil is never felt by the vine, but it does feed on all the virtues of the soil, through the tree. Here’s another charmingly reflective and beautiful sight. The actual outcome is not so pleasant, but the entire seamless operation is most instructive. The other day, I was told of a cousin’s young, breast-fed baby having mild diarrhoea. When the child was taken to the paediatrician, the first question the mother was asked was this. What did you eat? The doctor never asked, what did the child eat, but what did the mother, on whom the child feeds, had eaten.    

These have all been given to show what actually happens when you and I, children of God, cling to Him as the vine clings and feeds entirely on the tree or a baby feeds only on the mother’s breast. When we cling to God and feed on Him by faith with thanksgiving, we are fed only what is good, for God is good. There is only good from God, for whether we are receiving from His rod of correction or His staff of commendation, it is all good. God only wants good for His children. When we cling to what is good, we cling to Love, God’s Love.

In clinging to what is good, we are then, nourished and nurtured by what is good. Our food becomes the preciously sweet, and satisfying Word of God. We feed daily from the source that never runs dry, is never rationed or measured and is never ever lacking in richness and virtue. To cling to what is good grants guaranteed unshakeable stability and unchanging reliability, regardless of the times. Whether in calm or rough times; high or low times; well or sick times, strong or weak times; rejoicing or sorrowing times, the One who is all good remains faithfully sure and steady.

I just want to remind you of what Jesus says about false prophets, hypocrites who pretend to be good, but in fact they are ravenous wolves. He warns us not to cling to them in any way, even when it seems good and legitimate to us. Jesus goes on to let us know that we will recognise them, not by how they look, but by the fruit they bear.  May the Spirit grant us hearing ears, to hear and heed Matthew 7: 15 – 20.

Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore by their fruit you shall know them.

 Hypocrisy, is what evil bears. If you cling to what is good and only Jesus is good, then you will bear no kind of hypocrisy. You will only bear Jesus’ good, genuine, true fruit.

Nothing of God is ever fake or false.