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Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn. -Matthew 13:30 (ESV)

As I mentioned in a previous post, there are true teachers of God’s Word, and false ones who can be very convincing in appearing true, but have very different motives than to bring us closer to God.

In the Parable of the Wheat and the Tares (Matthew 13:24-30), Jesus tells us about how it can be very difficult to discern true believers from false ones…till they bear fruit. I wrote about what I learned from reading such an eye-opening parable.

And just as with false teachers, there are ways to tell true believers from the false. However, because we all fall short of God’s glory, even true believers will trip and misstep, appearing to be false followers. The difference is in where our hearts lie, how we recover, and for Whom we recover.

A great Crosswalk article lists the marks of the true believer, who:

  1. has a heart that is changed forever, and loves and is fulfilled by Christ alone;
  2. lives a changed life coming from a heart of love to Christ, living for Christ’s sake;
  3. seeks Christ and His kingdom above all else;
  4. submits to the righteousness of God, rather than their own;
  5. possesses three things false believers lack: emptied and broken self, taking up Christ as the only source of enrichment and satisfaction, and taking on Christ’s yoke without exception.

Read on in the article, which expands on each point »

Stay true

To stay true, we stay surrendered in all aspects of our lives. In any areas we haven’t, let us pray that God helps us let go and trust in Him, rather than clinging to what we think we need to control. Let us take in His Word every day, actively pray for and with others, and walk in His Word in thought, word, and deed.

As true believers, our hearts overflow with the love of Christ, flooded by His love, which completely replaces our old selves with Him. Let the world see the fruit of such love, that they see Him, not us, in our walk.