Apple Baking Time

 

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s autumn approaches, I am reminded that it brings with it all kinds of wonderful opportunities, not the least of which is the chance to eat baked apples.  Now, I know you can bake an apple most any time of the year, but there is something about autumn and the cool, crisp air that makes eating baked apples a most wonderful experience. 

 

Like a lot of people, my parents take time in the summer to prepare fruits and vegetables for the winter. Many long hours go into preserving food for the cold months ahead and in the dead of winter, the summer’s work brings its own rewards.  When I moved into my house, mom and dad helped me move and they brought with them several jars of vegetables, one jar of peaches, two jars of apples, and some other wonderful things one of my aunts had preserved.   

 

Occasionally, I like to bake apples in the oven.  I haven’t done this very often but when I do have the opportunity, I enjoy it—both the baking and the eating.  Baking whole apples isn’t difficult but the process is a little time-consuming. First, the apples must be thoroughly washed and dried.  Next, I use a sharp knife and begin the tedious process of removing the apple’s core.  The entire core, stem and all, must come out so that the final preparations can be made.  Once the core is removed, the center of the apple is filled with a mixture of brown sugar, white sugar, butter, and cinnamon.  The apples are then placed into an oven to bake until they are done.  The result is wonderful and really hits the spot on a cold, dreary day. 

 

Now you may be wondering if there is any connection between baking apples and the Christian life. Well, there is, and I want to share with you what God taught me as I thought about this process.  Psalm 103:1 provides gives us something to think about as we compare the Christian life with the process of baking apples.  In this verse the psalmist writes, “Praise the Lord, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name. Did you catch that? Read that passage again very slowly and notice from where we must praise God.  We must praise Him from our inmost being and herein is our problem.  

 

Our inmost being, our core, is sinful.  Like the apples above, without God, we are bitter, tough, and unappealing.  If we are to honor Him in our thoughts, words, and deeds, we must allow Him to take the knife to us and cut that core out!  When we do this, He fills us with the sweetness of His grace, the assurance of His love, and the abiding presence of the Holy Spirit.  We get all this when we accept Jesus Christ as our Savior and make Him the Lord of our lives. 

 

The apple is a wonderful picture of man in his sinful condition.  Not only is the core bitter, it contains the seeds that will make more apples with more bitter cores.  We are the same way.  The seeds of sin reside within us and unless they are removed, we will keep on producing sin.  If we baked apples with the cores in tact, the flavor would not be as sweet or succulent as if the cores were removed.  However, when we fill them with sugar, butter, and cinnamon, when we place them into a hot oven, and when we allow them to bake, all the elements mix together to render a wonderfully sweet and delightful dish. 

 

Today, let’s determine to take good look at our lives.  What are really like at the core?  Are we bitter, tough, and unappealing?  Are we giving those around us any reason to “taste and see that the Lord is good”?  (Psalm 34:7-9). Have we submitted our lives to God, asking Him to remove our core and to replace it with the sweetness that only He can give?  Is it apple-baking time in your life today?