Now that we’ve recognized the situation in which we sin (the heat), we can talk about how we sin in a given situation. That’s the bad fruit: the external manifestations of sin that are usually visible, audible, or perceptible in some way.

The heat is our circumstances. The bad fruit is how we react to those circumstances. We can’t control our circumstances, but we can control how we respond. So this part of the diagram tries to answer questions like these: How did you respond? What did you think, feel, say, and do? What does Scripture say about these responses?

This will work if you’re willing to do the hard work of being honest and specific. That’s never easy or fun to actually acknowledge the unkind words, the rude expressions, the harsh actions. But change is in the details. Specific sight of sin leads to specific conviction which leads to an experience of specific forgivenss and specific change. Some questions to help you get specific (from Lane & Tripp, How People Change, 140):

• What is your typical bad fruit? (Complaining, laziness, anger, envy, lust, bitterness, avoidance, pride, blame, greed, etc.)
• Where have you slacked off?
• When have you given in to anger or envy?
• Where have you quit doing what God says is good?
• To whom have you spoken unkindly?
• Where have you blamed others?
• When have you accused God?

Categories: five15 blog