“By their fruits you will know them.” Matthew 7:20
Think about what happens the moment when a baby is born. The tiny bundle of life appears, and he seems to be half asleep. So the doctor pulls him out and smacks him hard, which makes him cry.
Welcome to the world, my friend! Crying made him take in great gulps of air, which got him going. After the doctor checks to make sure he has all his parts, she gives him back to his mother for some love and some food.
Thank God for the cry! The little fellow was alive, and he has never looked back. Crying, breathing, and feeding are the first signs of life. They are the sure evidence that the baby is alive.
How do you know that you’re born again? How do you know if this regeneration has happened to you? Is it a feeling that you get? How can any of us know if this has really happened to us?
More than any other book in the Bible, 1 John addresses this theme. The apostle John gives us six distinguishing marks of a genuine Christian. They are the vital signs of spiritual life, the evidence that a person has been born again.
Jesus said, “By their fruits you will know them” (7:20). When a person has new life in Christ, there will always be evidence. There will be fruit. The living tree has buds and leaves, and the living child breathes and cries and sucks. What does the living Christian do?
How would you answer this question?