2096) I love oranges, but because I live in a region of the country that does not produce them, it’s often hard to get good ones.  

How can you tell if an orange is good? You can look at the tree and can tell a little about the fruit’s health, but this rarely tells the complete story.  

Examining the fruit brings the best results. Looking at the outside of it can tell us some things as well as squeezing it, but even these things cannot guarantee the one you picked out is good.  

You simply have to taste it and in doing so, you’ll know what the health is of the tree.  

Jesus said in Matthew 7:17 that good trees produce good fruit and bad ones produce bad fruit.   In

order to make sure the fruit we’re bearing is good, we need to make sure we have cultivated our spirit with all that is necessary for a healthy plant to grow.  

This examination is especially important as others will be watching and tasting to see if our fruit is good or if it only looks good on the outside but on the inside, it’s bitter.  

It’s important to examine our fruit regularly because other people will.