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?
