The Proverbial Rotten Banana
The Proverbial Rotten Banana
The bad apple, the sour grape, the rotten banana… We’ve all met someone like this and most of us (at one time or another) have been this person to someone else. I believe this can occur as a result of the bad things we have in our lives, not because we are rotten to the core. Paul describes this result or evidence of the way we live our lives as fruit1.
The fruit we produce can be good, for example: “affection for others, exuberance about life, serenity. We develop a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people. We find ourselves involved in loyal commitments, not needing to force our way in life, able to marshal and direct our energies wisely”.
Or the fruit we produce can be bad, for example: “repetitive, loveless, & cheap sex; a stinking accumulation of mental and emotional garbage; frenzied and joyless grabs for happiness; trinket gods; magic-show religion; paranoid loneliness; cutthroat competition; all-consuming-yet-never-satisfied wants; a brutal temper; an inability to love or be loved; divided homes and divided lives; small-minded and lopsided pursuits; the vicious habit of depersonalizing everyone into a rival; uncontrolled and uncontrollable addictions; wild parties”.
But how do we identify bad fruit in our lives? As these images suggest, we should fill our lives with good, ripe, full, delicious, and colorful fruit. When the dead, shriveled, moldy and rotting fruit is placed next to the good fruit, the contrast becomes obvious. No one in their right mind would choose the old, dried out, moldy pear, when there are eight beautiful and healthy ones to pick from.
Paul describes this concept in his letter to the Philippians2: “Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.” My prayer is that as we work to focus our thoughts on the good things of God’s spirit, the bad fruit in our lives will become as obvious as a rotten banana.
1 – Galatians 5:16-25 MSG
2 – Philippians 4:8 NLT
Read MoreThe bad apple, the sour grape, the rotten banana… We’ve all met someone like this and most of us (at one time or another) have been this person to someone else. I believe this can occur as a result of the bad things we have in our lives, not because we are rotten to the core. Paul describes this result or evidence of the way we live our lives as fruit1.
The fruit we produce can be good, for example: “affection for others, exuberance about life, serenity. We develop a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people. We find ourselves involved in loyal commitments, not needing to force our way in life, able to marshal and direct our energies wisely”.
Or the fruit we produce can be bad, for example: “repetitive, loveless, & cheap sex; a stinking accumulation of mental and emotional garbage; frenzied and joyless grabs for happiness; trinket gods; magic-show religion; paranoid loneliness; cutthroat competition; all-consuming-yet-never-satisfied wants; a brutal temper; an inability to love or be loved; divided homes and divided lives; small-minded and lopsided pursuits; the vicious habit of depersonalizing everyone into a rival; uncontrolled and uncontrollable addictions; wild parties”.
But how do we identify bad fruit in our lives? As these images suggest, we should fill our lives with good, ripe, full, delicious, and colorful fruit. When the dead, shriveled, moldy and rotting fruit is placed next to the good fruit, the contrast becomes obvious. No one in their right mind would choose the old, dried out, moldy pear, when there are eight beautiful and healthy ones to pick from.
Paul describes this concept in his letter to the Philippians2: “Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.” My prayer is that as we work to focus our thoughts on the good things of God’s spirit, the bad fruit in our lives will become as obvious as a rotten banana.
1 – Galatians 5:16-25 MSG
2 – Philippians 4:8 NLT
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