Just a thought by coppi

Matthew 7:15-16

“Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they?”

Luke 6:43-45

For there is no good tree which produces bad fruit, nor, on the other hand, a bad tree which produces good fruit. For each tree is known by its own fruit. For men do not gather figs from thorns, nor do they pick grapes from a briar bush. The good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth what is good; and the evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth what is evil; for his mouth speaks from that which fills his heart.

This morning I became intrigued by scriptures on grapes.  There are so very many in the old and New Testaments.  The reason I was delving in these scriptures is because yesterday as I stood in line in the grocery store to get a receipt for my transaction, I was behind a man who needed more money than one purchase would allow.  If you buy one thing then you are allowed to get cash back of $100.00.  He wanted more cash.  In his hand he had a bag of grapes he was going to purchase   But since he could only get $100.00 for one transaction and he needed more money, the clerk allowed him to buy one grape at a time.  I could not believe my eyes when I saw the clerk weigh one grape and then give him money for the purchase of the grape.  I seem to always choose a line where a customer has trouble making a transaction but never one that was buying one grape at a time so he can get money! I do not know how much money he wanted to accumulate, but as I stood, waited, and watched, he bought many one “grapes” until I decided to move to another cashier.

“A little leaven leavens the whole lump is a metaphor the apostle Paul uses to compare the effects of false teaching in the church to the results of yeast in bread dough (Galatians 5:9). Just as a small amount of yeast will make a whole loaf of bread rise, a little bit of legalistic teaching will quickly spread, infiltrating the hearts and minds of individual believers until the entire church is contaminated.” 

Good and evil – dark and light are in our world. Galatians 5:19-21:  When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, 20 idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, 21 envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these”.   As I have said before,  a little leaven allowed in your life is like buying one grape at a time.  It will probably bring much happiness at first, but what will be the end results.  “Grapes are not gather from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles.” Are they?