If Christ Lives in You , Shouldn't Something About You Be Different?
There is a question we probably don’t ask ourselves often enough:
If Christ lives in me, shouldn’t something about me be different?
Not because Christians are supposed to become perfect.
Not because salvation is earned through good behavior.
Not because we’re supposed to spend our lives performing Christianity for everyone watching.
And certainly not because we’ve been appointed to inspect everyone else’s life and determine whether they are saved.
This question is personal.
If Christ lives in me, what evidence of His presence is becoming visible in my life?
Because Christianity isn’t simply believing certain facts about Jesus.
It isn’t wearing a Christian label.
It isn’t church attendance, Bible ownership, Christian music, Scripture posts, ministry involvement, or knowing how to speak Christian language.
Those things may be part of our lives.
But none of them necessarily demonstrates transformation.
Jesus talked about something else.
Fruit.
And fruit isn’t something a tree tapes onto its branches so everyone will believe it’s alive.
Fruit grows because there is life within the tree.
Maybe that is exactly where we need to begin.
“By Their Fruits Ye Shall Know Them”
Jesus said:
“Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.”— Matthew 7:20 KJV
That’s a powerful statement.
But we need to be careful with it because this verse is often removed from its context and turned into permission to become spiritual fruit inspectors.
Jesus is speaking in Matthew 7 about false prophets.
Just a few verses earlier He says:
“Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.”— Matthew 7:15 KJV
Then He explains that a tree is known by its fruit.
So Jesus isn’t giving us permission to examine every Christian around us and announce whether we think they’re genuinely saved.
He is teaching us that what something produces eventually reveals something about its nature.
That principle should make us look inward before we ever point outward.
What is my life producing?
Not what do I claim?
Not what do I post?
Not what do people assume about me?
What is growing?
Looking Christian Is Not the Same as Being Transformed by Christ
It is possible to learn Christian culture.
You learn when to say amen.
You learn the songs.
You learn the vocabulary.
You learn the expected answers.
You learn which Scriptures everybody quotes.
You learn what Christians are supposed to look like.
And if we’re not careful, we can become very good at looking transformed without actually allowing Christ to transform us.
Religious performance concentrates on appearance.
Transformation reaches the heart.
Performance asks:
“How do I look to other Christians?”
Transformation asks:
“Father, what in me still doesn’t look like Christ?”
Performance learns how to conceal.
Transformation gives God permission to reveal.
Performance protects reputation.
Transformation welcomes conviction.
Performance wants everyone else to believe we’ve arrived.
Transformation knows we are still being changed.
There is freedom in that distinction.
We don’t have to pretend.
Fruit Doesn’t Create Life
This is important.
An apple doesn’t make an apple tree alive.
The tree produces apples because it is alive.
In the same way, Christian behavior does not create spiritual life.
We aren’t saved because we produce enough good fruit.
We produce fruit because the life of Christ is at work within us.
That brings us directly to John 15.
Jesus says:
“I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.”— John 15:1 KJV
And then:
“Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.”— John 15:4 KJV
There is the secret.
Abide.
The branch doesn’t strain until fruit appears.
It remains connected to the vine.
Life flows from the vine into the branch, and eventually what is happening internally becomes visible externally.
That means the goal of Christianity isn’t merely:
Try harder to act Christian.
The invitation is:
Stay connected to Christ.
You Cannot Manufacture Spiritual Fruit
We can imitate fruit for a while.
We can force ourselves to smile.
We can learn religious politeness.
We can suppress anger in public.
We can say the correct things.
We can present ourselves as patient, loving, generous, forgiving, and kind.
But manufactured fruit becomes exhausting.
Eventually pressure reveals what is actually growing underneath.
Someone hurts us.
Someone disappoints us.
We don’t get our way.
We’re misunderstood.
We’re overlooked.
We’re corrected.
We’re inconvenienced.
And suddenly whatever has really been growing inside us comes spilling out.
That’s why transformation has to reach deeper than behavior.
Jesus said:
“He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit…”— John 15:5 KJV
Fruit isn’t manufactured.
Fruit is produced through abiding.
The Question Isn’t Whether You’ve Ever Failed
If the evidence of salvation were flawless behavior, none of us would qualify.
Peter denied Jesus.
The disciples argued about who was greatest.
Believers in the New Testament had conflicts, immaturity, misunderstanding, temptation, and sin that required correction.
So the question cannot simply be:
“Have I ever behaved unlike Christ?”
Of course we have.
The more meaningful question is:
“What is happening when Christ confronts those places in me?”
Am I becoming teachable?
Do I repent?
Do I make excuses?
Do I defend everything?
Do I blame everyone else?
Do I justify attitudes Scripture confronts?
Or am I increasingly willing to say:
“Father, You’re right. This doesn’t belong in me.”
That willingness itself reveals something.
Transformation doesn’t mean we never need correction.
Sometimes transformation is revealed by what we do with correction when it comes.
Faith That Never Affects Life Deserves Examination
James approaches this from another direction:
“What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him?”— James 2:14 KJV
Then James gives a practical example.
Someone is hungry and without adequate clothing, and another person says:
“Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled…”— James 2:16 KJV
But gives them nothing.
James asks:
What good did those words actually do?
Then he says:
“Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.”— James 2:17 KJV
James is not teaching that works purchase salvation.
He is confronting a profession of faith that produces nothing.
That’s different.
Real faith begins expressing itself.
Not because we’re earning something from God.
But because what we believe begins affecting how we live.
Saying “I Believe” and Living “I Believe” Are Different Things
We can say:
“I believe God is my provider.”
But what happens when finances become uncertain?
We can say:
“I believe God forgave me.”
But do we continually punish ourselves for what He has forgiven?
We can say:
“I believe people are made in God’s image.”
But how do we treat people who cannot benefit us?
We can say:
“I believe God is sovereign.”
But what happens when life moves outside our control?
We can say:
“I believe Jesus told me to forgive.”
But what happens when forgiveness becomes personal?
We can say:
“I trust God.”
But what happens when obedience requires surrendering something we desperately want?
Eventually faith leaves the vocabulary and enters the life.
That’s where fruit begins becoming visible.
Grace Doesn’t Excuse the Old Life
This has been the thread running through this entire series:
Grace doesn’t excuse the old life. Grace teaches us how to walk in the new one.
The first teaching asked whether we can claim salvation while comfortably continuing to live as though Christ has no authority over our lives.
The second asked what we are continually feeding—the old man or the new.
Now we arrive here.
What is actually growing?
Because if we belong to Christ and continually abide in Him, something should eventually become different.
Maybe the anger that once controlled us doesn’t control us quite as easily.
Maybe we apologize sooner.
Maybe we recognize pride faster.
Maybe we no longer enjoy something that once didn’t bother us.
Maybe forgiveness comes more readily.
Maybe our compassion deepens.
Maybe we become less interested in being right and more interested in being truthful.
Maybe our appetite for Scripture grows.
Maybe conviction that once irritated us becomes something we welcome.
Maybe we become more generous.
More patient.
More peaceful.
More willing to listen.
More willing to surrender.
Maybe the change isn’t dramatic enough for everyone else to notice yet.
But we know.
Something is growing that wasn’t there before.
Sometimes the Fruit Is Small Before It Is Mature
We need grace here too.
Nobody walks into an orchard and becomes angry because a newly planted tree isn’t producing the same amount of fruit as one that has been growing for twenty years.
Growth takes time.
Some believers are young in their faith.
Others are experiencing deep pruning.
Some are unlearning decades of destructive thinking.
Some are discovering truths they were never taught.
Some are learning obedience in areas where they once had no conviction whatsoever.
We should not demand instant maturity from people.
And we shouldn’t demand it from ourselves.
But there should be life.
There should be growth.
There should be movement.
The question isn’t:
“Am I as mature as somebody else?”
The question is:
“Am I allowing Christ to mature me?”
Pruning Is Also Evidence That God Is Working
Jesus says something fascinating in John 15:
“…every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.”— John 15:2 KJV
Even fruitful branches are pruned.
So sometimes the uncomfortable thing happening in our lives isn’t evidence that we’ve failed.
It may be evidence that God is cultivating something deeper.
He begins touching attitudes.
Relationships.
Motives.
Habits.
Priorities.
Things we once thought were harmless suddenly become uncomfortable.
We wonder:
Why is God dealing with this now?
Perhaps because there is already fruit.
And He intends to produce more.
Stop Measuring Your Christianity by Everybody Else
One of the easiest ways to avoid transformation is to find someone behaving worse than we are.
At least I don’t do what they do.
At least my marriage isn’t like theirs.
At least I don’t struggle with that.
At least I go to church.
At least I read my Bible.
At least I’m not living like them.
But somebody else’s lack of fruit tells us absolutely nothing about ours.
The standard isn’t:
“Am I behaving better than that Christian?”
The question is:
“Am I becoming more like Christ?”
That will keep us busy enough.
What Does Your Life Produce When Nobody Is Watching?
That’s perhaps where fruit becomes easiest to examine.
Who are you when there’s nothing to prove?
How do you speak to the people closest to you?
What do you think about when no one can hear you?
What happens when someone else succeeds?
What happens when you’re corrected?
What happens when you don’t receive recognition?
What happens when God says wait?
What happens when you could retaliate and choose not to?
What happens when obedience costs you something?
What happens when nobody would know whether you obeyed or not?
Those moments often tell us more about transformation than what happens on Sunday morning.
Because fruit isn’t decoration for public display.
It’s the natural evidence of what is growing within.
If Christ Lives in You, Something Should Be Happening
Again, I am not talking about perfection.
I am talking about evidence of life.
A living relationship with Christ should affect us.
It should affect what we love.
What we tolerate.
How we speak.
How we forgive.
How we respond to conviction.
How we treat people.
How we handle disappointment.
How we use money.
How we respond when we’re wrong.
What we do with temptation.
What we pursue.
What we release.
How quickly those things change will differ from person to person.
But Christianity that never touches the life deserves examination.
James wouldn’t let us separate faith entirely from its evidence.
Jesus wouldn’t let us separate the branch from its fruit.
Paul wouldn’t let us separate grace from transformation.
And perhaps we shouldn’t either.
Don’t Try to Look More Christian—Abide More Deeply in Christ
Maybe that’s where we finish this series.
Not with a giant checklist.
Not with:
Do better.
Try harder.
Look holier.
But with Jesus’ invitation:
“Abide in me.”
Because if we make looking Christian our goal, we will eventually learn how to perform.
But if knowing Christ becomes our goal, His life begins changing ours.
And perhaps that is the difference between religion and transformation.
Religion asks:
“How should a Christian look?”
Relationship asks:
“Jesus, what are You producing in me?”
So maybe today we don’t need to inspect everyone else’s fruit.
Maybe we sit quietly before God and ask:
Father, what is growing in me?
Where do You see evidence of transformation?
Where am I still resisting You?
What have I been trying to manufacture instead of allowing You to produce?
What needs pruning?
Where do I need to abide more deeply in Christ?
And then we remain.
Because Jesus already told us where the fruit comes from.
“…He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit…”— John 15:5 KJV
Grace doesn’t excuse the old life.
Grace teaches us how to walk in the new one.
And if Christ truly lives in us, over time something about us should begin looking more and more like Him.
Not because we’re pretending.
Not because we’re performing.
But because His life is producing fruit in ours.
Much Love
~Gayla~
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