“You will know them by their fruits.” — Matthew 7:16 (NKJV)
Sometimes we hold on to what could be so tightly that we miss what actually is. We pray, hope, and pour ourselves into people and situations — convinced that with a little more love, a little more patience, a little more prayer, they’ll finally become who we see in our imagination.
But potential is not fruit.
Potential is a seed — and not every seed will grow, no matter how much water you pour on it. You keep waiting, hoping, checking back every season. You say, “Maybe next time it’ll be ripe.” But God gently whispers, “It’s not that it can’t grow — it’s that it won’t.”
“Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.” — Matthew 7:19 Imagine walking through an orchard. The trees look beautiful from afar — lush leaves, sturdy trunks, branches that promise fruit. But when you get closer, you realize the fruit is either rotten or never grew at all.
You keep waiting, hoping, checking back every season. You say, “Maybe next time it’ll be ripe.” But God gently whispers, “It’s not that it can’t grow — it’s that it won’t.”“Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.” — Matthew 7:
When we cling to potential, we often confuse possibility with promise. But God never told us to cling to potential — He told us to discern fruit. Potential will make promises. Fruit will prove them. Choose fruit — because God’s best always grows in truth.
- “For the tree is known by its fruit.” — Matthew 12:33
- “The wisdom that comes from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits.” — James 3:17
Potential can sound good, but fruit shows good. Potential talks about what might be — fruit reveals what already is. If the fruit is confusion, manipulation, or inconsistency, that’s not growth — it’s warning. God doesn’t want you clinging to what drains you. He wants you planted where you can grow, blossom, and bear good fruit yourself.
Reflections:
*You are not responsible for someone else’s harvest. You are responsible for your obedience.
*When you stop idolizing potential and start honoring fruit, you make space for the right connections, divine timing, and real peace to enter your life.
*“Let us not grow weary in well-doing, for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.” — Galatians 6:9
Heavenly Father,
Thank You for teaching me to see with spiritual eyes. Help me stop clinging to potential and start discerning fruit. If I’ve been watering a season You’ve already called finished, give me courage to let go. Prune me, Lord, of every false hope, every draining attachment, and every illusion that keeps me from growing in You. Plant me where peace grows, love flows, and Your Spirit thrives.
In Jesus’ name, Amen.