For years, I thought almonds were nuts. Most people do. Then one day, our doctor explained to us that almonds are technically the seed of a fruit from the almond tree.

This wasn't an academic exercise for us. Because our younger son has a life-threatening nut allergy, the "fruit or nut" question was far from trivial. Yet there we were one evening, nervously opening a jar of almond butter.

As our son took his first bite, the room went dead silent. EpiPen in hand, I stared at him like an anxious scientist examining a high-stakes lab result. Seconds ticked by. Then, he smiled. No allergic reaction! He was completely fine! In that moment, we marveled at the irony: the very thing we had spent years avoiding as a deadly nut turned out to be a delicious fruit.

That experience made me think about Christians. I began to wonder, if people knew us well enough, would they describe us as fruit … or as nuts?

Scripture speaks highly of fruit. The fruit of the Spirit is Christlike character demonstrated through love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Fruit nourishes people and gives life. Fruit is attractive because it reflects healthy roots.

Nuts, on the other hand, are hard with tough shells. Difficult to crack. Often dry. And unfortunately, even Christians can become that way too.

It is possible to spend years around the church and slowly become rigid, defensive, overly serious, and defined more by our opinions than by our life in Christ. We may know doctrine well and still struggle to show gentleness or humility. We may defend truth while lacking love and compassion. We may become more committed to sounding theologically correct than to growing more Christlike.

Would a harsh and joyless Christianity draw people to Christ? I’m afraid not. No wonder the Bible speaks so favorably about bearing good fruit. Jesus taught that people are recognized “by their fruit” (Matthew 7:16–20). The world is waiting to see the character of Christ through us—not merely our religious correctness.

So here's a question for us who follow Christ: Are we becoming more fruitful? When interacting with people around us, are they seeing Christ in us?

Let us humbly draw close to Christ. And by His grace, may we become a little more fruity and a little less nutty.