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Discernment in Scripture is not about suspicion or accusation, but about learning to recognize what produces life.

 

Scripture often speaks of spiritual life in the language of seeds, growth, and fruit.

 

What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. (1 Corinthians 15:36)
A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. (Matthew 7:18)

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What Love Produces

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Jesus taught that what is planted will eventually make itself known, not immediately, but over time. Growth is often quiet and gradual. The true nature of what has been sown becomes visible only as it matures.

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When love is the seed, it produces life. That life grows upright and is drawn toward the light. It does not need to be forced or directed; it responds naturally to its source. It bears fruit that strengthens others and contributes to the health of what grows around it.

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God is love… There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. (1 John 4:8, 18)

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Scripture consistently associates life with light, and love with freedom. What is rooted in God does not grow inward or downward, but upward - toward truth, openness, and life.

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A garden shaped by love is therefore marked by freedom, trust, honesty, and rest. The plants face heaven not because they are compelled to, but because they are alive - rooted in God Himself, who provides their nourishment, growth, and flourishing.

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What Fear and Control Produce

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Fear produces a different kind of growth. It does not grow freely or openly; it tightens and constricts. It does not rise toward the light; it turns inward, curling around what is nearby. What grows under fear may appear active or disciplined, but it does not produce life. Instead, it entangles.

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Scripture warns that some forms of growth look stable on the surface while quietly causing harm beneath it:

 

See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springs up and causes trouble. (Hebrews 12:15)

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Control often grows like a vine. It wraps itself around good things - community, devotion, sacrifice - until those things can no longer stand on their own. What began as faith becomes obligation. What began as love becomes fear of loss. What began as devotion becomes pressure to conform.

 

Over time, life is not nourished but constrained, and growth is shaped by fear rather than sustained by grace.

 

 

By The Fruit, Discern What Has Grown

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Jesus gave a simple measure for discernment:

 

By their fruit you will recognize them. (Matthew 7:16)

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Scripture does not limit “fruit” to those who remain close or visible. Fruit includes the full effect of what has grown over time - what has flourished, what has withered, and what has been cast aside.

 

It is worth asking, gently and honestly:

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What kind of fruit grew from the seeds that were planted and the leadership that cultivated them? Did those seeds produce a field of people standing upright, rooted, and facing heaven in freedom? Or did they produce fear, tension, silence, and entanglement - felt not only by those who remained, but by those who were harmed, pushed away, or left carrying wounds?

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And it is worth asking, with the same care and honesty: what kind of seeds are being planted now, and what kind of fruit will they bear over time?

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This is not a question asked in accusation, but in truth. Scripture invites discernment not to shame, but to heal - to see clearly what has grown, so that what God restores may be rooted in love rather than fear.

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When the Fruit Is Division

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Scripture does not present relational rupture as a mark of spiritual health. While the gospel may expose conflict in a broken world, it never commands believers to manufacture division or to sever family bonds as proof of faithfulness. Jesus acknowledged that truth can bring tension (Matthew 10:34–36), but He did not instruct His followers to abandon love, responsibility, or mercy toward their own families. Scripture consistently affirms care for family as a moral obligation, not a spiritual compromise (1 Timothy 5:8).

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Yet one of the most visible fruits of this church’s teaching has been division: brother separated from brother, son from father, daughter from mother. Relationships have been strained or cut off not because of moral failure or abuse, but because questioning, disagreement, or departure was framed as unfaithfulness to the truth. This pattern has left many families fractured and many individuals isolated.

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This kind of division is not neutral. It is fruit, and it must be weighed honestly. The New Testament describes the fruit of the Spirit as love, peace, patience, kindness, and gentleness, not fear-driven separation or relational severance (Galatians 5:22–23). Discernment therefore requires asking not only whether a system claims truth, but whether it produces the kind of love that reflects the heart of Christ.

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God Loves You

 

God does not cultivate His garden through fear. He does not bind His people in order to keep them near. He does not grow His kingdom through intimidation or control.

 

I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. (1 Corinthians 3:6)

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Where God gives the growth, there is life. Where love is the seed, fear does not rule.

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If what grew in you was fear rather than freedom, that is not evidence of your failure. It may simply reveal the nature of what was planted.

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And the good news of Scripture is this: gardens can be restored. New seed can be planted. What God grows is gentle, life-giving, and free.

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For I am sure that neither death nor life… nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.  (Romans 8:38–39)

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