By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? – Matthew 7:16

They were cousins – sons of two sisters. According to Akan tradition, either of them could be the Asantehene, king of the Ashantis of Ghana. The normal criterion for secession to the throne is age, and that was Kofi’s confidence for the kingship after their aging uncle. He was the local boy, and easily recognized as the Crown Prince. Kwaku, on the other hand, made his living abroad. Growing up, his mother always reminded him to live as a prince – always above the ordinary. To help him maintain that perspective, his mother sent him to live with a royal family in another region for a crash course in ‘Royal Protocols 101’. Kwaku took the course seriously, and that put him on a different trajectory in life. Even away from his people, decency and integrity marked his life, and people respectfully called him ‘Nana’, the traditional title for princes and kings. So, when the king died, the elders chose Kwaku as his successor. What went wrong for Kofi? He took things for granted as the Crown Prince and lived in ways unbecoming of a future king. His unroyal character cost him the stool. His desperate appeal to the President of the nation could not bend the customs and tradition of the Ashanti Kingdom to his favor.

            The moral of this story is that, claiming to be a descendant of a royal family and heir apparent does not automatically guarantee kingdom benefits and blessings. Integrity of character is what lays claim to royal privileges.

In the Kingdom of God, membership is not reckoned through birth into a Christian family or church membership. Simply praying the sinner’s prayer does not automatically guarantee heaven to anyone. A person’s confession of Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord must always be validated by their transformed life that glorifies God (Jn. 1:12, 13; Rm.10:9, 10; 12:1-2).

John the Baptist warned the Jews to “Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For … out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham” (Luke 3:8). As Jesus said, “By their fruit, you will recognize them … A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit” (Matt. 7:16, 18).

 We thank God that He did not raise children unto Himself out of stones to fulfill His promise to Abraham (Gen. 12:3), but has done it through His Own Son, Jesus Christ (Jn. 3:16; Gal. 3:14, 29). That is why we who have put our trust in Jesus are sons of God and consequently, “heirs of God, co-heirs with Christ” (Rom. 8:16, 17).  As children of God, Paul, admonishes us to walk by the Spirit that we’ll not gratify the desires of the flesh (Gal. 5:15). For, the only true claim to heaven is evidence of the presence of the Holy Spirit in a life, and the fruit He bears in that person, as revealed in their lifestyle (22-23).

So, does your lifestyle validate your claim to sonship of the Most High?