If the fruit of your beliefs is the harm of others,
maybe it’s time to re-evaluate.
We often hold our values so tightly that we can’t see their consequences. This happens when our ideas become intertwined with our identity.
When our beliefs and values feel like a core part of who we are, we can become incapable of questioning them. To admit our beliefs are flawed would be to admit we are flawed, and that can be a painful and challenging truth to face.
This is especially difficult when our politics become our identity.
When your political stance defines you, it’s incredibly hard to see where you might be wrong because it feels like a personal attack.
Even though we all know every human being is flawed, we still resist the idea that our own beliefs could be.
Jesus tells us in the Bible that a good tree produces good fruit, and a bad tree produces bad fruit. We are told in Matthew 7 that we can identify a tree—or a person—by their actions.
As Christians, we are called to bear the fruits of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23). This is the true sign of our faith.
Jesus himself taught that the entire law is based on two simple commandments: loving God and loving your neighbor as yourself. He also made it clear that our neighbor is everyone, without exception.
The Bible also warns us about the “bad fruits” that come from our sinful nature: hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, and division.
If the way we live our lives
doesn’t reflect the good fruit,
but instead bears the bad,
we are not following
the teachings of Jesus.
And if the leaders we follow and the ideas we believe in don’t bear good fruit, it’s time to reconsider their place and influence in our lives.
We see the clear impact of this today—from the violent rhetoric that has filled the airwaves for decades to the belief that unfettered access to guns is the most important right we have, and that finding a solution isn’t even worth the sacrifice.
These aren’t just ideas; they’re ideologies that are causing real-world harm and failing to bear the fruit of the Spirit.
But we can take a crucial first step: separate your identity from your politics.
You are not your political party.
You are a human being, capable of growth and rethinking ideas.
The ideas you have been taught are not the only way.
Your political party is imperfect and does not have all of the answers.
And those who believe differently than you don’t, either.
Real solutions are found when we come together and communicate with a willingness to listen to understand and to collaborate.
I know it can be scary – I’ve walked this path in recent years. But I can tell you from the other side that it’s worth every step. Every question. Every tightly held belief released.
If your leaders and role models teach you to hate others or to speak ill of people who are different from you, it’s a sign that it’s time to reevaluate.
If you are justifying their words and actions (or lack thereof), ask yourself why. What is keeping you from admitting that they are imperfect, and maybe you were wrong about them?
And, if the fruit they are bearing looks nothing like Jesus, maybe it’s time for the Church to stand up and humbly admit its mistakes.
The capacity for change lies within each of us. And it’s up to us to take responsibility for the values and beliefs to which we cling.
Even So, Joy 