|
HELEN SANDERS
7-7-2024
ROTTEN TO THE CORE
I enjoy apple slices with cinnamon on them as a snack. I have been eating them this way for several years. Last year I ordered a great apple peeler. It peels and slices the apples just the way I enjoy them. It takes off the peel and cores the apple also.
I bought a bag of apples last week and today proceeded to wash them and get them ready for the apple peeler. One of the apples was very nicely shaped, shiny, and red, but it had a small bruise and hole on one side. Upon examining it I noticed that the base of the apple was also bruised. You could not see these flaws in the bag.
I decided to peel it anyway, and to my surprise the apple was rotten to the core. I had never seen one quite so bad. You see if I had known it was rotten I would not have even bought it.
It reminds me how Satan tempts us. He comes with “shiny” apples which look good on the outside but inside they are rotten to the core. These “shiny” apples which I call sin, come in many forms. They might be people, jobs, money, drugs, and anything else that Satan tempts us with. Often, we are caught up with how things look on the outside that we neglect to “examine” the fruit of these things and willfully allow them into our lives. Then we realize the mistake we have made.
Matthew 7:17-20 tells us about fruit. It says, “Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit: but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. 20 Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.”
Then, in verse 21 it says, “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.” This verse lets me know that there is some rotten fruit out there that will not make it to heaven.
Good fruit may have a bruise because life is not always fair. We have all had our share of bruising. But good fruit is never rotten on the inside like that apple.
We must examine the fruit in one’s life, ministry, and works. It will not be determined by their outer appearance or even their gifts. We know the “good” from the rotten by the fruit their bear. Jesus warned us in Matthew 24 that we are not to be deceived. Do not be fooled by something that looks good to later find out it was rotten on the inside. Good fruit never brags. It has a reputation of “being tasty” and fit for the master and will always give God the glory in all it does!
GOD BLESS YOU
RUSSELL AND HELEN SANDERS
SPIRIT OF LIFE MINISTRIES INTERNATIONAL
www.spiritoflifeintl.org
| 
