Tuesday, December 02, 2008

By their fruits ye shall know them

Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore by their fruits you will know them. Matthew 7:16

Robert Longman wrote: "The most famous Bible passage about the 'fruit of the Spirit' is in Galatians 5:22, where the apostle Paul gives us a list of fruit. The list is meant as a contrast to the list of the 'deeds of the flesh' found in 5:19-20. The fruit list is clearly not intended as an exhaustive description of the fruit, but was given to highlight the fruit that Paul wants the Galatian church to keep in mind. He lists the following fruit: love; joy; peace; patience; kindness; goodness; faithfulness; gentleness; self-control."

I made the collage because the phrase "by their fruits ye shall know them" came to mind. I knew I had a day book of fruits so I found the grapes, and started with that. In the end, I was sorry I did not paint the background, the white looks garish to me now, despite the gold cord along either side as a frame. The heart valentine represents the Love of Jesus. The angels on either side are pointing to the fruits by the people, and of course in the center is the Lamb, Jesus. At the bottom are the people, each generating their own fruits, either those fruits from the flesh or satan, or those spiritual fruits for Jesus. A godly person should exhibit those characteristics, always. If they do, ye shall know it.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Nice collage. How long did it take you to make?
Chuck

Elizabeth Prata said...

thanks! It is hard to say, I sift thru collage junk to decide on materials, I take a phone call, I make some tea, I sort the collage onto a page and then I send an e-mail. It is part of the fun on a rainy Saturday that I go slow and enjoy each little part by itself with no hurries.

Overall I'd say three hours