“Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?” (Matthew 7:16). Much of the misery in this world comes down to our fruitless - pun intended - efforts to gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles. How often have we reached into the thorn bush and come away with bloody hands only to be so convinced that this time there really will be grapes and so we reach our hand in once more? All of us tear ourselves apart trying to find happiness or goodness in all of the wrong places and it never works. We can only make things worse for ourselves. But thankfully, there was One Who was able to gather grapes from thorns. Jesus Christ paid the price for all of our failed efforts to extract good from evil. He fearlessly plunged into the wine fat to tread the grapes of wrath and humbly submitted to bear the crown of thorns. He waded out into the abyss of all of our heartaches and abandoned dreams and disillusionments and agonies and He gathered the grapes from among the thorns. He did this in the hopes that we would abandon the thorns and come to the true vine and gather grapes to our heart's content.
