Jealous Bananas

One day last winter, I forgot to eat my lunch before work and I went to my job without eating. Consequently, I became very hungry in the middle of my shift. I had packed a dinner before leaving the house, and packed all of my basic foods such as sandwich, fruit and chips. Being that it was Girl Scout cookie season, I had a bag of them in my brown bag. As was on the showroom floor, my stomach grumbled and I remembered the girl scout cookies that I had packed away in my lunch. So when the coast was clear, I snuck back to the refrigerator and grabbed the cookies. I stuck them in my pocket and went back on to the floor. After a while, the Samoas became nice and warm in my pocket, which makes them all the better! So I pulled one out of my pocket, and I took a bite. What was meant to be a euphoric moment of coconut, chocolate and caramel came crashing down when I tasted banana!

I was quite sad about the banana taste, but I ate them anyway since they are Samoas and they only come around once a year. When it came time for lunch, I bit into my sandwich and tasted banana. I ate my chips, that tasted like banana. My apple was the only item not tainted by banana, so I ate it. I pushed my banana to the edge of the table and just glared at it. I was thinking “how dare you taint my lunch!”

Then it dawned on me, that we as people are so much like my bagged lunch. Everything that I was pulling out of the bag was directly affected by what was in the bag. In Matthew, Jesus reprimands the Pharisees for their lifestyles.

Read Matthew 12:33-37

To quickly put this verse in context, the Pharisees were condemning Jesus for casting out demons. It was not the act of casting out demons that raised questions, it was that he did that without using incantations, rings, spells or potions. Instead, he would send them away. This was strange to them, so they decided that he was Beelzebub, which is another name for Satan.

When we read this, it sounds peculiar. We would ask, why would they be so quick to drastically call him Satan? The primary reason is that Jesus was exposing them for what they were, and that was as hypocrites. Jesus calls them hypocrites, snakes, and other insulting names because they were self-centered people who held positions that were supposed to be selfless. Not all Pharisees were painted evil in scripture (see Nicodemus), but quite a few of them had there own agenda and tended to feel threatened by Jesus because he was out-doing them at their own game that was ultimately rigged so that they could win.

One idea that really stands out to me is that Jesus said that from the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. What I started to realize is that sometimes we place bananas in our bags that taint the flavor of our souls. In my life, I had a few of those that I began to notice.

When I look back at my life, I find that I was not always the most positive person in the world. I generally try to be positive, but it is easy for me to get run down when I am around negative people. I am not saying that everyone has to be positive all the time, but when people you are hanging around are cutting you down, trying to pressure you into changing who you are, or anything else that is not life giving, you have to wonder why you are around them. I began to see that in my life, that at one point I was not in a healthy church, my friends were not encouraging me, and I had some messy relationships.

Another category that I will share is the idea of what I was hearing. When I was in the Navy, I found that I was listening to people who talked condescendingly constantly. Not just that, but many people had such a negative outlook on life. What I began to find is that over time, the negativity was wearing on me. I found that when I stubbed my toe or got frustrated, there was a word that I did not like ready to jump out of my mouth.

But the good thing is that we are not stuck in that rut and there are ways to go about fixing the problem. Another way that I found to combat the negatives is to try and listen to positive music, messages, and be more committed to devotions and prayer. It helps me keep a positive outlook on life and the events in my life. My pastor once said that if you spend time reading the Bible regularly and read well written books, your thought process will conform to that way of thinking. Meanwhile, if you read comics and never read anything else, you will begin to think and talk like one. So that’s what I began to do, I am not always the best, but I am working on cleaning that part of my life. I started looking at my social life in a similar way as a sports team, in that I had to pick a system and find people that fit that system. It sounds weird, but when I started removing negative influences, my quality of life began to increase.

When we start talking about the outcome of positive nature, we start to understand what Jesus meant when he said that a tree is recognized by its fruit. If you water a plant, give it ample sunlight, and take care of it, it grows strong and it bears fruit that is attractive. When we begin to understand that words that come from our mouth are much like the fruit on the tree, why would anyone want fruit that is rotten? That is why we must take great care to make sure that our fruit is healthy and nourishing.

Another idea that really jumped out to me that I felt was worth mentioning is that Jesus claims in verse 36-37 that we are accountable for every careless word we say. With the analogy of fruit still on our minds, what would life look like if words were like fruit? Lets say that I gave you a spoiled apple and you got sick off of it. Would you be less likely to take fruit from my tree next time? If it was that blatantly obvious, do you feel that we would be more careful about the words that we give to one another?

I write this today not to put anyone down or to preach at anyone, but I am sharing this so that you might be able to have a good illustration of how what we allow to be in us directly affects us. Since change comes from the inside and goes out, my hope is that you continue to influence everyone around you by the positive force that comes from within. So I am going to close by asking you, what are the bananas doing in your bag? Is the smell repulsing others, or are the fruits of the spirit attracting people?

God Does not Waste

One of the biggest fears that people have is that they will screw up horribly and cause serious damage for the rest of their life. Yes, it is true that every action that we make has a consequence, whether it is good or bad. The good news is that we have a God who is redemptive and who can and will turn even the worst situations for his own good.

You might wonder, “well, this horrible thing happened to me when I was young and it can not possibly have any good, so how can you say that?”, and I agree, there are some pretty horrible things that happen to us. With that being said, I am going to use scripture from the Old Testament and the New Testament. Both stories show the characters as being remorseful for what they have done, however, God had bigger plans.

The broader spectrum is that even though we have our faults and we have made some pretty big mistakes, sometimes we need to step back and see what happens after that mistake. So lets look at these examples and talk about what is happening…

Read 2 Samuel 11

I want to start by saying that this is another story that I try not to use because I have the feeling that David is pretty tired of getting beat up over this story! He probably has been saying “I get caught up in the moment once, and look what everyone remembers!”

So what have we seen in reference to things going wrong? I can count at least five, which are adultery, conspiracy, murder, lying and marrying the man’s wife after his death. To making matters worse, David is told that the baby will die within a week of birth. Even though he fasts and tries to bargain with God, the baby does die on the seventh day. So with everything going wrong, there is one thing that goes well.

2 Samuel 12: 24&25

Even though this is a baby that was created at the expense of another man and at the expense of a newborn child, Solomon will become one of most revered characters in Jewish culture. He is wise, powerful, and responsible for some of the writings in the Old Testament. Never mind the fact that he did a lot of evil things, he is responsible for quite a few great things.

The reason why I am saying this is that often times we see all the negativity in a situation and it often times can deter us from seeing the good. If we were to look at all the horrible things that led up to him becoming the King of Israel and then look at all the negative things that happened while he was the King, then we would completely miss the wisdom and the leadership that he contributed to our culture.

To give you an idea, I am not quite sure that I was supposed to join the Navy. I honestly have wondered if I went against God when I decided to join because my time on active duty was not pleasant for the most part. Granted life is not always pleasant, but it all felt wrong. Initially my application was rejected due to medical reasons, and then that got excused and I decided to go ahead and join. I have spent time wondering if that initial denial was meant for me to not join and to find some other way to get to seminary. I joined in June 2005 and went away to boot camp. At training school I request orders to get sent over to Europe or elsewhere over seas. I figured that I would try and do that while I could and have fun with my time in the Navy. Instead, I got sent to Norfolk and was put behind a desk. During that time, I sometimes wondered what exactly I was doing there. I had quite a few bosses and coworkers that treated me horribly and I felt that I was at times wasting my life.

Eventually it dawned on me that it was not always about me and my comfort. Yes, there were a lot of things happening that I did not like, but because of my discomfort I was able to bless other people. Some people told me about how my life had helped restore faith in them whether it was my endurance, my character or my concern for them. I also began looking at the other details of my life outside of work. I was starting to go to school again, I was getting involved with a church, and my spiritual life was stronger than ever. That is when I began to realize that God can salvage damaged situations.

*Read Matthew 26:14-16, 27:3-5

Again, here is a situation that something absolutely horrible happened. Judas betrays Jesus for 30 silver coins, and then feels remorseful for it. Matthew and Luke (Acts, which is written by Luke) have different accounts of what happened, but it is quite evident that he killed himself. The average person that does not know anything about this story probably wonders “What good can come out of any of this? Two people have died and greed prevailed. I think we all know the answer to this question as well. Salvation. If Judas would not have turned Jesus in, then how would the prophecies of the Old Testament have been satisfied? It would have probably happened some way or some how, but it still would have resulted in a necessary evil to set the sacrifice in motion. It is because of that perfect sacrifice that we are now called sons and daughters of God.

Again, I am sure that we can look back into our lives and think of a time in which someone wronged us in a way that we will never forget. Now what I would like you to do is think about that time, and think about how it played into the next stage of our life. For me, I am going to recall a time in which I was denied ministry opportunities. When I was attending this church, I decided that I wanted to get involved and help out. Everything seemed to be going well, until two pastors told me that either I was not cut out for the ministry or they changed their tune when I tried to pursue a higher degree.

Yes, that was a disheartening moment for me, but I needed it. That gave me a stronger resolve to be a healthy leader and to work towards being a better class of Christian leader. I do not think it is arrogant to say that, but I realized after being a Christian for 9 years at that point that I did not have many positive Christian influences. That was the point that I broke and said that I was going to seminary and that I was going to pursue the calling that I had found.

In closing, I want you to look at how the plains Indians treated the body of a killed buffalo. They were not like the white men who just shot them and left them to rot, instead, they had a use for everything. They would take the skins and use it for clothes and tents. They would take the meat, and eat it. They would use the fat for oil and other various purposes. They used the various body parts for different tools and necessities. The fact was that they were resourceful. That is no different than God. So when you look back on your life, remember that degree that you think was useless? How is it tying into the big picture now? Or how about that bad relationship? How much more respect do you have for the person you are with, or who you will have in the future? Or how about that time in which you thought you lost everything, but you found that God was there helping you through? These are just a few things that go on in the big picture, but I want you to know that God does not waste, and that we must look for the good that he is doing in our lives.