Fruit and the Transparent Toilet

Someone recently sent me this picture (above) and it made me think about my life as a christian. (Not that way!! Read on!) This is a picture of a public toilet located on a street in Houston ... in public view. The walls of the toilet are two-way mirrors. You can see out but no one can see in.

Most of us like our privacy. It is hard for us to be ourselves especially around folks we don’t know. When we are aware that people are noticing us, we tend to put on masks that make us what we want people to think we are, or what we think they want us to be. We all have, to some extent, multiple personalities. We are a different person to the people who live in our house, than the person who works at the drive-thru. We are different at a basketball game than at a gravesite.

I was sitting and talking with a group of pastors not long ago. As I listened they began to talk of a pastor at a very large well respected church. They spoke of a situation where the pastor of that church reacted to a situation in a very unchristian way. It definitely made a impression on those who were there and I could tell that the opinion of that pastor had definitely changed the way the people at table felt about him.

A few years ago there was a song that became very popular by the artist Cyndi Lauper. The song was call True Colors. Part of the chorus goes like this, 

    “But I see your true colors
    Shining through
    I see your true colors
    And that's why I love you
    So don't be afraid to let them show”

We use the phrase “true colors” when we talk about seeing who a person really is, or when we see someone’s true character. It is when the truth of a person’s inner qualities or values manifest itself. Circumstances that put pressure on us tend to bring out our true colors. Peterson writes, in the Message Bible, in Matthew the twelfth chapter:

    It's your heart, not the dictionary, that gives meaning to your words. A good person produces good     deeds and words season after season. An evil person is a blight on the orchard.

Again in the Bible we read:

Matthew 7:16-18

You can tell what they are by what they do. No one picks grapes or figs from thornbushes. A good tree produces good fruit, and a bad tree produces bad fruit. A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot produce good fruit.

By giving our hearts to Christ we are, in essence, asking Him to change the kind of tree we are. Prior to salvation we did not have the option of producing good fruit. We weren’t that kind of tree. We began to bear good fruit when we began to take on the nature of Christ. Christ is bearing good fruit through the character He produces in us.

After being saved we follow suite by being baptised. Baptism is a way of opening your fruit stand. In the ritual of baptism we are saying, publicly, “I am a christian now... come and take a look at my fruit.” We no longer have to “be afraid to let them show” because Christ is now producing His “ true colors” in us. 

    Matthew 3:8
    Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance:

We like the privacy of being hidden in our own little worlds but if there are character flaws in us, our true colors will show. We should feel like someone sitting on that toilet, feeling totally exposed to the world, because we are, in effect, a constant show of His true colors. We are an advertisement to the world of who the Christ in us is. We tell people daily if christianity is real, and if it really can change lives. Every day, every contact we make, every word we speak, every action we take, may very well be viewed by someone who is questioning the legitimacy of christianity. Maybe that is part of the concept of Christ words when He said, “You are the light of the world—like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden.” (Matthew 5:14, see context) 

An old song says, “No man is an island. No man stands alone.” We are christians now, but we still are part of the whole of humanity ... and the answer for it. Unless we are a hermit, we are a continual reminder of Christ and how He can bring peace, joy, and forgiveness, and how He can renovate a life.

Someone once said that character is who you are, when you are all alone and no one sees you. That is character, but I submit that character is also the you who bleeds out, after being isolated, into a world that experiences who you are.

There is no two-way glass for the christian. Every person we meet becomes our fruit inspector. We will not bear good fruit if our roots are not deeply grounded in Christ and His pattern for our lives. We can hide, or put on mask, or build facades, but eventually our true colors show.

There are many people who wear the jersey but really aren’t on our team. They have learned how to play the game of Christianity. They have learned the words to say, the actions to take, but they are not able to bear good fruit because they are not that kind of tree. Eventually we catch a whiff of rotten fruit and see their true colors.

The world is looking for Jesus (whether they understand it or not) but the only one they will ever see is you and me. As christians, we are sitting there exposing ourselves to all who care to take a look. And when the world sees good fruit it gives people the notion that maybe there is a God, maybe He does care, and maybe there is hope for them.

I think, as followers of Christ, it is good for us to feel exposed. It is a reminder that we are constantly under the microscope of those around us. It doesn’t have to make us feel uncomfortable though, when the fruit we bear is good fruit.

So ask God to help you see your character flaws. Maybe you should ask people close to you what they think your true colors are, and deal with the reality of their answers. God is about empowering us to change. And if you become firmly rooted in Him, you cannot help but produce good things.

As God begins to produce good fruit through you, you will not be negatively affected by people looking on. Then you have the confidence to ... (I have to say it) Go... into all the world...