Little did I know, there are thousands of cultivars! Although there are undoubtedly similarities, each type has extremely distinct characteristics. To my uneducated mind, I thought a mango was a mango. Once an experienced farmer took the time to show me how to identify different varieties, it became clear. By the end of our time there, I was easily recognising obvious differences that before receiving the information, I would have overlooked. A question I get asked often is “Many people seem to say they are a Christian. Is there a way to know if a person is sincerely born again? What does the Bible say about this?” The simple answer is really we have no idea the condition of a person’s heart, and it would be arrogant for any of us to presume to make that kind of judgement call on another individual’s personal and spiritual relationship with their Creator. Only God can and will judge each person. However, like the mangoes, there are some verses in the Bible that give us information that helps identify characteristics of a Christian. Ironically, not far off from my mango analogy, the Bible says you will know them by their fruit. (Matthew 12:33-37, Matthew 7:17-20)
This list of “fruit” to look for is not exhaustive but can serve as a beginner guide to answering this question. And again I can’t stress enough that people can project a pretend image.
