Ripe for the Picking

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he other day someone asked me if I had a sweet tooth.  I didn’t even have to think about my answer.  “Let me put it this way, “I said, “Give me a five-pound bag of sugar and a spoon and I’m happy!”  I’m not exaggerating!  The guy who said, “Life’s short, eat dessert first” has my full support and admiration.  You’ve just got to respect someone who has his priorities in the correct order!  One of my life goals is to sashay into a restaurant and order a cheesecake and a fork. That’s right, not a slice of cheesecake but the whole thing!   I’m just waiting for the right occasion!

My favorite dessert, hands down, is banana pudding.  My mom will be happy to share that dirty little secret with you.  Whenever I’m home I bargain with her, telling her that I’ll buy the ingredients if she will make the banana pudding.  The result is always the same; she buys the ingredients and makes the pudding!  I just love this arrangement!

The ingredients for this delicacy are not difficult to find. However, in order to make a perfect banana pudding, the bananas have to be ripe.  As a small boy, I remember going to the grocery store with my mother.  She always looked for bananas that were almost black because they made the best desserts.  I couldn’t understand this.  Bananas were supposed to be yellow, not black!  All the books I’d ever read said so.  But black, or very dark, bananas were what she bought because they had the best flavor!  And since mom always made perfect banana puddings, I didn’t argue!

The Apostle Paul addresses this idea of ripeness or maturity in his letter to the Ephesians.  Paul knew that in order for God’s work to move forward with the best results, he needed and required spiritually mature workers.  Ephesians 4:12-13 follows a list of the different duties God assigns to some of his children.  Although there are different jobs, there is only one goal and that goal is training the members of Christ’s body ending in spiritual maturity.

In this passage Paul writes, “to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.”  The role of teachers, and pastors, prophets, apostles and evangelist is to prepare God’s people for works of service.  The result is that the body of Christ will be unified and mature.  We are to be of one mind and one spirit, understanding and doing the work of God in the world around us.

Notice Paul’s words in the last portion of this passage.  In order to experience the entire fullness of Jesus Christ we must be spiritually mature.  This means that our desires become God’s desires, that our ambitions take a back seat to his will, that we see everything coming from his hand, and that we wait with patience until he is ready to use us for his purposes. 

Remember, in order to make a good banana pudding, you’ve got to have ripe bananas.  Green bananas are too bitter, yellow bananas are better but still lack fullness of flavor, but black bananas, those that are completely mature, make a perfect pudding every time.  What is the condition of your soul today?  If God were making a banana pudding, would you be chosen to add flavor and body?  Have you weathered life’s storms and difficulties, bending your will and your life to his purpose?  Are you ripe for the picking?

Down To The Nitty-gritty!

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he sound of the ceramic saw and the steady pounding of the hammer told me that the long-awaited day had arrived.  My brother was busy installing the bathroom floor in our house.  He and I had purchased an old fixer-upper and we had been working for over a year, totally renovating the property.  One of the highlights of this project involved installing marble tile in the bathroom. Our parents made it possible for us to buy the tile and the time had come to install it.

Fortunately for us, Kevin was able to use his many talents to work on several aspects of the house.  He did a lot of the carpentry work, installed the light fixtures, painted, hung wall paper, and added the little details that most people would have overlooked.  Today, however, he was installing the marble tile, one of the last stages toward completing our bathroom.

After putting down the sub-flooring, Kevin snapped chalk lines, mixed the mortar, and laid the tiles in place.  When he finished, the floor looked wonderful.  Where there had only been plywood, brand new pieces of marble now joined together to create a beautiful, durable floor.  However, despite its beauty, the floor remained unfinished and incomplete.  Between each tile was a gap that separated it from the neighboring tiles.  The process of installing the floor wouldn’t be completed until Kevin added grout and sealant to the newly-installed tiles.

The next day, Kevin entered the bathroom to put down the grout.  It was a messy and tiring job as he mixed the grout and worked it into the spaces between the tiles.  Afterward, the tile had to be rubbed down, washed, and dried.  It took him the better part of a day to complete the project but when he finished, the floor was complete, ready to be used.  The only thing remaining was to let the grout dry so it could be sealed.  

I learned a very valuable lesson from the installation of that floor.  Although the marble tile was beautiful, its installation was incomplete apart from the grout.  Without it, the tiles were separated and unattractive.  However, when Kevin got down to the nitty-gritty, when he worked the grout into the spaces between the tiles, the floor came out just right. Without the grout, the tiles would have bucked and cracked. But the grout joined them, protected them, and allowed them to be united into one floor.

The nitty-gritty work is always important.  When we speak of getting down to the nitty gritty we mean performing the most basic part of any task.  Without this step, nothing else matters.  Although we use the best materials and take great care, without our getting down to the nitty-gritty, our work is all in vain.

Jesus used this concept of getting down to the nitty-gritty in his conversation with Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling counsel.  Nicodemus came to Jesus at night and spoke with him about the requirements for obtaining salvation and entering the kingdom of God.  John 3 records Nicodemus’ visit with Jesus and the conversation they had.  Jesus made very precise statements about the process of entering God’s kingdom.  Nicodemus had several questions and some difficulty about Jesus’ words. 

John 3:3 records the one requirement for becoming a child of God.  We could call it the
”nitty-gritty” of becoming a Christian.  This is what Jesus told Nicodemus that evening, “In reply Jesus declared, "I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.”  Notice what Jesus told Nicodemus.  No one can see God’s kingdom unless he has a second birth.  That is all inclusive. It doesn’t matter who you are, who your parents are or were, what you have, or what you don’t have.  Unless you accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, you cannot see God’s kingdom.

This was a hard saying for Nicodemus and it is for people today.  Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling counsel, was like fine marble tile.  He was wealthy, he had all the luxuries of life, he had influence, he had knowledge, and he had power.  Still, there were gaps in his life, large areas that separated him from those around him.  More importantly, these gaps in his life separated him from God.

Nicodemus knew that something was missing; something that all his earthly riches and influence could not secure for him.  So, he came to Jesus, searching for the one thing he lacked to set his life in order.  Jesus got right down to the nitty-gritty.  In order to share in God’s salvation and his kingdom, Nicodemus would have to be “born again”, that is born into God’s family through faith in Jesus Christ.  His possessions, his status, his position in his community, and his influence over others were of no importance concerning his spiritual condition.  The only thing that mattered was his status before God.  That status hinged on the decision Nicodemus would make about his relationship with Jesus Christ.

Jesus’ standards have not changed.  His statement to Nicodemus is as true for us as it was for him.  We must get down to the nitty-gritty and answer the question about our relationship with Jesus.  Is he Lord and Savior?  Is he the master of our lives?  Have we accepted him and his free gift of salvation?  Until we can answer all of these questions with a resounding yes, our lives will have gaps and spaces in them, keeping us at a distance from others and from God.  Don’t you think it’s time you got down to the nitty-gritty of life today?

A Lesson On Main Street

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ain Street was a wonderful place!  On this street, I met my first and best friend, on this street I learned to walk, and on this street I learned to ride a bike.  I received my first skinned knee on Main Street; I got into my first fight on Main Street, and it was on Main Street that I learned just how much my mom, dad, brother, sister, family and friends loved me.

I remember so many occasions when the traffic on Main Street stopped my play and turned my thoughts elsewhere.  Some cars were headed toward town, and some were headed the other way, going to who knew where.  From our front yard, I could see in both directions.  To my left, I could see the stop light and some of the buildings of our town.  To my right, Main Street stretched a great distance until it curved out of sight.  I was convinced that this is where the world ended because when cars went around that curve they disappeared!

My dad worked just up the street from our home.  Every day he would come home for lunch and in the evening he would walk home for supper.  I can still see him as he walked down the sidewalk on Main Street and I remember running to meet him and jumping up into his arms and him carrying me the rest of the way home.  However, there was one time when dad’s walk home wasn’t’ the most pleasant experience for me.  It was the first time I remember him disciplining me and, like most other things in my life, it happened on Main Street.

It was around lunch time and I was standing in our front yard watching the cars go by.  Not satisfied with being an observer, I decided it would be fun to participate.  So, I began throwing small stones at the passing cars, not realizing what I was doing.  Several cars passed by and the stones fell harmlessly in front, behind, or on the other side of them.  One stone, however, performed perfectly, hitting a car and causing the driver to stop!  As luck would have it, my dad was walking down Main Street and saw the whole thing!  Moreover, he knew the driver of the car and that made it even worse.

When he got to me, he took my hand, led me into the house, and he gave me a spanking.  Then, he did something far worse, he made me call the lady whose car I had hit and apologize to her.  I remember daddy standing me up on the counter.  He dialed the number, got the lady on the phone, handed it to me, and made me apologize.  Through tears and sobs, I finally got it out.  There had been no damage to the car, but there had been damage to my character and daddy knew how to fix it!  It wasn’t fun at the time, but I learned my lesson and I learned respect for my dad.

The writer of Hebrews knew that the Christian life is not without its moments of discipline.  He understood that we get out of line, that we do things we shouldn’t or fail to do the things we should.  The writer also understood that God, like our human fathers, will not tolerate character flaws in us and He will discipline us so that we grow to spiritual maturity, doing what is right and pleasing in His sight.

In Hebrews 12:9-10, we have a vivid picture of why God disciplines His children. “Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live!  Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness.”

There are so many truths locked in these two verses.  Discipline teaches us respect for our earthly fathers because we know that they discipline in order to teach us right from wrong.  But they discipline us for only a little while, then we go out on our own, armed with the knowledge and experience they have provided.  But God disciplines us for life and He does so for our own good.  Left to ourselves, we would never lead holy lives.  We need God’s discipline and instruction in order to please Him.

God’s discipline does have a purpose.  The closing words of this passage tell us plainly that God disciplines us for one purpose and one purpose only, “that we may share in his holiness.”  Think about that!  God disciplines us so that we can have a relationship with Him.  He disciplines us in order to remove everything from us that keeps us from living according to His will and His commands. 

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ust like my dad, God will not tolerate harmful behavior.  He will not let us get away with anything, not even a little stone-throwing.  God’s aim is not to make us comfortable, but to teach us right from wrong.  Sometimes that teaching involves discipline and God teaches His best lessons on Main Street!

High Fidelity

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he teenage years mark a milestone in a child’s development.  This era of life is filled with firsts—the first crush, the first date, the first driving experience, and the all-important first stereo. Now, I don’t mean a clock radio that plays cassettes, I mean a full-blown sound system that keeps parents knocking on the door with instructions to “Turn that thing down!”  Yes, all of these are proof that the teenage years have arrived in full force and that life for the typical family is about to change.

Now, back to that stereo system.  The selection of a stereo is a serious matter.  The name brand is important and of course, the bigger the system, the better it is, or so teenagers think.  There is nothing more impressive than walking into a guy’s room and seeing nothing but speakers!!!  The first reaction is that this must be one connoisseur of music.  However, the most important aspect of the speaker is not its size but how effectively and how clearly it produces sound.  The measure of any speaker rests solely in its ability to reproduce sound that is faithful to the original source.  Speakers that produce quality, undistorted sound are described with two words—high fidelity!

Now stop and think about that for just a minute.  That label guarantees that the sound produced by the speaker is exactly the same sound as the original.  The speaker remains faithful to its source (hence, the term high fidelity) and reproduces it so the listener receives the full measure, color, and mood of the original sound.  Speakers true to the sounds of an orchestra will produce not only the high and low sounds of the instruments, but will also communicate the full body of the entire musical score. They will relay the emotions and the attitude of both the composer and the conductor, giving the listener the total experience of a musical work.

As Christians, we can take a lesson from the stereo speaker. God has entrusted us with sharing the good news of salvation and the person of Jesus Christ with those around us.  The question we must ask ourselves is how effectively are we sharing his word with others?  Are we faithful to the original source, communicating God’s love and concern for all those who are not saved?  Can it be said of us that our sharing of God’s word is accurate and faithful?  If we were stereo speakers, would the words “High Fidelity” be attributed to us?

Psalm 15 gives great insight into the kind of person God permits to stand in his presence.  There is a long list of requirements but Psalm 15:2 addresses the message we send and how effectively we represent God to the world. “He whose walk is blameless and who does what is righteous, who speaks the truth from his heart…” Notice that God requires us to speak the truth from our hearts.  It is with the heart that we truly understand and communicate with God.  It is with the heart that we have a relationship with him because it is the heart of man that most interests God.  King Solomon reminds us in Proverbs 23:7, “For as he thinks within himself, so he is.”

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es, the quality of a stereo system is judged by the quality of sound produced by its speakers.  The decision to accept or reject the entire stereo is based on the sound produced by the speakers and their faithfulness in remaining true to the source.  When people listen to us, what are they hearing?  What message are we sending out about God?  Are we remaining faithful to his word or are we distorting it?  We are either doing one or the other. Based on what people hear from our speakers, do they accept or reject God’s message?  Do we deserve the label “high fidelity” today?

Basic Requirements

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n my study hangs a large shadow box filled with various patches commemorating my journey through the scouting program.  All the badges are arranged in the order in which I earned them leading up to the highest level of achievement, the Eagle Scout patch and medal.

When I look at this display, I am reminded of all the work required to obtain that rank.  I remember each merit badge, each rank patch, and each skill award I earned.  At the time it seemed I would never finish the program.  Each time I   completed one level, it was time to start on another.  Each successive rank was more difficult and more challenging than the one before and sometimes I felt like giving up.

In order to move from one rank to the next, I had to fulfill several basic requirements laid out by the scouting organization’s handbook.  Each level required a certain number of merit badges, a certain amount of waiting, and a certain level of leadership.  In the upper ranks,

participation in a service project was also required, making it more challenging to obtain that rank.

I vividly remember looking at all those requirements and being overwhelmed by them.  It seemed as though they wanted me to do the impossible in order to earn a small piece of cloth.  Reading the requirements always required a decision on my part.  That decision was to continue or to bail out of the program.  Although it wasn’t always easy, I continued and completed all the requirements for the Eagle rank.

Sometimes in our walk with God, we fall into the trap of trying to earn our way into a closer relationship with him.  We become dissatisfied and seek to fulfill more “requirements” in order to obtain a higher rank with God. 

Fortunately, God doesn’t work like this.  His word does not lay out a series of requirements we must fulfill in order to gain his favor or to live a more holy life.  We could never do enough work to earn our salvation or to merit a relationship with God.  The Old Testament law was proof of that.  It was impossible to meet all the requirements of the law and to live a perfect life before God.  That is why Jesus came and died so that we could experience God’s grace and accept his gift of salvation.

But there are certain things we must do according to God’s word. “Aha,” you say, “I knew there was a catch somewhere!”  God only has three requirements, however, that we must follow and they are found in Micah 6:8. “He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”

First, we act justly when we live our lives and gauge our actions according to God’s word.  Every action, every motivation, every thought we have, and every word we speak must be in alignment with God’s word in order to be truly just. 

Second, we must be merciful.  Jesus himself said that if we would obtain mercy from God, we must show mercy to those around us.  God is merciful.  The fact that he sent Jesus to die for our sins and that he made a way for us to come to him and be his children is proof of his mercy and his justice.

Third, we must walk humbly with God. We do this by first accepting Jesus Christ as our savior and lord.  Then, we walk with God on a daily basis, remembering that we are saved by his grace and by that alone.  We cannot earn it, we cannot buy it, we cannot get it by our own efforts.  This keeps us humble before God, insuring the right heart attitude before him.

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hen we fulfill these three requirements, our reward is a wonderful relationship with our heavenly father.  He loves us so much, far more than we can even imagine.  He never intended for us to earn our salvation.  Instead, he wants us to accept his gift and to enter into a loving relationship with him today.  So, where are you in this process?  Can you fulfill the basic requirements or are you still trying to add patches to your collection?

All The Way Through

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aturday morning is undoubtedly one of the best things in life.  No alarm clocks, no busy schedule, and no running against the clock.  It’s a day of leisure, a nice pause at the end of the week, and a time to relax. 

 On Saturday mornings, I wake up later than usual and make my way to the kitchen.  I open the refrigerator and usually decide to cook myself a nice breakfast.  I pull out the eggs, the bagels, and the country sausage or bacon and get ready to have a good, old-fashioned southern breakfast.

Over the years I have learned to cook pork sausage over medium heat.  It is necessary to cook the meat slow so that it gets done all the way through.  Most men believe that there is only one setting for cooking—high! The problem with this approach is that only the outside of the meat gets cooked.  It gives the appearance of being done but in reality the inside is uncooked and can lead to unwanted illness. 

Now, what in the world does under-done sausage have to do with today’s devotional?  Actually, it has quite a lot to do with it. Jesus understood the dangers of appearing to be something that one wasn’t.  He knew that if we are to be God’s followers and children, then we must be his all the way through.  Unfortunately, sometimes we do a good job of appearing to be Christians on the outside while underneath we are very much under-done.

This was a lesson Jesus taught repeatedly to the Pharisees.  He chided them for their inconsistent life style.  He exposed their hypocrisy and chastised them for failing to uphold their position as the religious leaders of the people. He had no tolerance for those who were religious on the outside but who in actuality were only half-cooked on the inside.

In Matthew 23:27-28, Jesus has this to say about the teachers of the law and the Pharisees, “You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men’s bones and everything unclean.  In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full hypocrisy and wickedness.”

Needless to say, Jesus’ words were not very popular with the Pharisees and teachers but they were accurate. But Jesus wasn’t concerned about their reputations or their egos; he was concerned about their spiritual conditions and the witness they gave. He knew that if people followed their example, spiritual sickness and death would soon follow.  Outwardly they gave the appearance of total commitment to God but inwardly they were anything but godly. 

The message and truth of God’s love through his son, Jesus Christ, is a pure message.  It must be carried in pure vessels and shared from a pure heart. We cannot simply give lip service to being a Christian; we must back it up by the way we live.  Everything we do, say, and think, must give testimony to the fact that we belong to God.

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o, today, we must ask ourselves the following questions: Are we giving a pure and total witness for Jesus Christ in all aspects of our lives?  Are we done all the way through or are we merely half-baked?

Raising The Standard

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ne of the most challenging and rewarding courses I took was a class in French Phonetics.  Now I’m sure you are just sitting there with bated breath, eager to lap up every juicy morsel of French phonetics and its application to the speaking of that language!!!  However, it wasn't the ins and outs of the phonetic alphabet and rules that grabbed my attention.  Instead, it was a statement made during the first day of class that impressed upon me the goal that all of us were striving to reach.

I took this class at Paul Valéry University in the city of Montpellier, located in southern France as part of my college’s study abroad program.  The very first day, the professor told us that in order to learn French (and she was talking to native speakers as well) we had to understand and grasp one concept. There is a language known as Standard French.  It is French in its purest form, the form everyone aims for and patterns themselves after.  Speakers of French attempt to conform their pronunciation and sentence structure to this standard form.  Their success or deficiency in the language is judged by how closely their French mimics and conforms to that standard.

I determined to master the language and come as close as I could to conforming to that standard.  By the end of that year, I had learned French grammar and could maneuver quite proficiently in the language.  The statement the instructor made about that standard remained foremost in my mind all during the year.  It became my one goal, my one desire, and my one passion during that year abroad.  I went to France to learn French and that is exactly what I did.

The Christian life also has its standard against which we are to be measured.  This standard is none other than Jesus Christ himself.  If you've ever wondered why trials and temptations come your way, if you feel as if the difficulties you are experiencing couldn't possible work out to your benefit, then listen to the following words from Paul’s letter to the Romans.  In Romans 8:29 he writes, “For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.”

If you’ll look very carefully you will see God’s standard, his reason for allowing trials and challenges to come our way. He is conforming us to the image of Jesus.  Every aspect of our lives, our thoughts, our words, our deeds, our actions, and our motivations must be measured against the standard of Jesus Christ.  God wants us to be complete, lacking in nothing, and he will use every means at his disposal to ensure we reflect the image of Jesus Christ.   That is how much he loves you and me.

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he instructor in France taught me a valuable lesson.  Unless I gauged my French against the standard, I would never know how far off the mark I was nor how far I had to go to improve.  In the same way, God is busy conforming us to the image of Christ.  He carefully compares us to the perfect image of his son.  He then begins pinching, pulling, pushing, and cutting at us until we begin to take on the exact image of Christ.  He is our standard, the one true goal we must try to attain.  So, the next time you face a difficult trial, just remember that God is raising the standard, making you conform to the perfect image of Christ Jesus.