You can tell a banana is ripe when you see fruit flies flying around the kitchen. There may still be green lurking around the edges of those long, yellow fruit. But those fruit flies know, they are ripe…they are dying. In a few more days, they will be no good. They will stink and rot and must be thrown out.
That instant I noticed the flies swirling calmly through my kitchen, I knew the bananas must be frozen. As I gently peeled each one and placed it in a bag to freeze, I thought how similar I am to those small pieces of fruit.
It is so easy to become complacent. I allow myself to sit…to become content with where I’m at, with how much I know God, or with my current ministry. I allow myself to become detached from the source of my life and growth. I willingly pluck myself from the branch and allow myself to sit idle. No more real growth. Just stagnant life.
And stagnant life is merely slow and sure death.
And this is so often the life, or death, I choose for myself. I choose to rot. I choose to die a slow and stagnant and useless death. I choose to rot.
And so often I don’t notice the softness growing inside me until there are spots visible on the outside and flies are starting to buzz around me. I ignore what I have done until the damage is evident…until the rot is grown in my life and my heart is softened to sin and corruption.
Yet, unlike those yellowed pieces of fruit, I have a choice to reattach to the source.
My God is there, arms stretched out, waiting for His wayward child to return. Will I listen? And will I learn to notice sooner the next time I slip away? And I will I learn to recognize those things that cause me to release my grasp on the source of my life?
I say with Paul, “The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” And I look to the One who can give me the strength to hold on. And I beg His forgiveness and call upon His grace to help me keep my eyes ever fixed on Him.
Daily I must look toward and cling to and ask forgiveness of and seek for and keep my eyes fixed on my Source…Jesus.
His grace will cover all my rot and all my death and all my sin. Even more, His grace will wash it away and make me new and whole and alive with His life.
Praise be to God!
Be blessed
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