Fruit Reveals the Heart

Jesus’ words in Matthew 7:16—“You will recognize them by their fruits”—give us a practical way to discern a person’s inner life. This graphic provides a structured way of thinking about someone’s spiritual condition, not for the purpose of uncharitable judgment, but so that we can consider them carefully (Hebrews 10:24-25) and encourage them toward love and good works.

It is impossible to separate a person’s external behaviors from their internal beliefs. The fruit of a person’s life—what they say and do—reveals their choices. These choices, in turn, expose their underlying beliefs. What a person believes about life, relationships, suffering, or success is always connected to their core theological assumptions. Ultimately, all roads lead back to what they believe about God.

This framework is not just about analyzing others; it also serves as a self-examination tool. If you want to know what you think about God, you don’t have to look any further than your behaviors and attitudes. What you do reveals what you truly believe, regardless of what you profess with your words.

Walking Through the Graphic: Top-Down and Bottom-Up Thinking

1. The Fruit in My Life: This is what people see: our words, actions, habits, and relational patterns. Scripture teaches that good trees bear good fruit, and bad trees bear bad fruit (Matthew 7:17-18).
2. Reveals My Choices: No action is random. Every word spoken, every habit formed, and every decision made flows from the choices we prioritize.
3. Which Reveals My Beliefs: Choices are not isolated; they stem from deeply held beliefs. If someone consistently chooses selfishness, it reveals what they believe about themselves, others, and God.
4. Showing You My Motives: Our beliefs determine why we do what we do. Motives are the driving forces behind our behavior, whether love, self-preservation, control, fear, or faith.
5. And What I Think About God: At the core of everything is a person’s view of God. A high view of God produces trust, humility, and obedience, while a low view of God leads to self-reliance, control, and fear-driven actions.

Reversing the Process (Bottom-Up Thinking):
You can also start with a person’s stated theology and predict their behaviors. If someone says, “God is distant and uninvolved,” it is likely they live independently, making decisions without seeking God’s wisdom. If they believe “God is loving and sovereign,” you will see them trusting Him even in difficulties.

This graphic provides a biblical method for considering others, ensuring that when we speak into their lives, we do so from a place of wisdom and understanding rather than assumption or reaction.

Case Study: Biff and Mable

Biff and Mable’s marriage is unraveling, but the root problem is not their arguments—it is Biff’s theology. His anger is not merely a personality flaw; it is a theological statement about God.

1. Biff’s External Fruit: Biff is quick to anger when Mable does not meet his expectations. He uses manipulation and coercion to get what he wants.
2. His Choices: Instead of leading his wife in love and patience, he chooses control, responding with frustration when Mable does not comply.
3. His Beliefs: Biff believes that life should go his way. His actions reveal that he sees himself as the highest authority in his home.
4. His Motives: He is driven by self-interest. Rather than trusting God to work in his marriage, he believes he must force outcomes to get what he desires.
5. His View of God: Biff has a low view of God. He does not trust God’s sovereign care in his marriage. He prefers to play god in his small world, making his own rules and demanding compliance.

The consequences of Biff’s faulty theology are clear: his home is filled with tension, his wife is discouraged, and his marriage is falling apart. When a person refuses to submit to the true God, their world will eventually crumble because it is built on self-rule rather than divine wisdom.

Counseling Biff Toward Restoration

To restore his marriage, Biff must address his theology before his behavior. While controlling his temper is necessary, behavior modification alone will not work because his anger is a symptom of a deeper theological error.

1. Help Biff See His Functional Theology: He needs to understand that his anger reveals his real beliefs about God, regardless of what he claims with his words.
2. Call Him to Repentance: Biff must turn away from his self-rule and acknowledge that he has been playing the role of a god in his home. Repentance means reorienting his thinking to align with the truth of God’s Word.
3. Teach Him a Right View of God: If Biff understands that God is sovereign and loving, he will learn to trust rather than control. When Mable does not meet his expectations, instead of reacting in anger, he will choose patience, knowing that God is at work in both of them.
4. Help Him Develop New Habits of Leadership: He must replace manipulation with servant leadership, modeling the sacrificial love of Christ (Ephesians 5:25). Instead of coercing Mable, he must lead her with grace and truth.
5. Encourage Him to Seek Accountability: Biff needs trusted brothers in Christ who will hold him accountable, reminding him that his fruit reveals his heart and calling him to ongoing transformation.

Conclusion: Why This Matters

This framework is not just about fixing marriages or relationships; it is about rightly understanding God. Every decision, attitude, and action we take is theological—it reveals what we truly believe about God.

If you want to help someone, don’t just listen to their words—watch their life. Their fruit will reveal their choices, beliefs, motives, and ultimately, their view of God. Likewise, if you want to understand yourself better, consider your own fruit. It will tell you what you truly think about God, giving you the opportunity to grow in Christlikeness.

“Show me the fruit in someone’s life, and I will tell you what they think about God.”

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Peace,
Rick