Life can seem like an apple orchard. There are green apples, yellow apples and red apples. We have choices. From the time of our birth, we taste the fruit of many apple trees. Curiosity and the hungers for knowledge and purpose, both new and old, find us consuming many.
As Christians, we learn that green apples are good. They are godly fruits like humility, happiness, a warm heart, helping others, words of encouragement. Yellow apples can be good or bad, depending on how we consume them. For example, sweets, sex, fear, information, and material possession. Red apples are bad. Apples like lying, rage, revenge, betrayal.
Ecclesiastes 7:14, "Enjoy prosperity while you can. But when hard times strike, realize that both come from God. That way you will realize that nothing is certain in this life."
Many people feel like they are in the game of Life. They spin the wheel of fortune and must move according to the number the wheel's pointer lands on. In this game, there is a few options in the direction you go (career or college). Though, it is mostly about where you land on the path and what the cards say. It's a game of chance.
Personally, I feel like this life is a game of Yahtzee. It seems to be all about the score sheet. We compare ours with others to see if we measure up. We judge success by who has the highest score and who have the most fill in (experiences). Praising people who have higher education and within that education who give a greater ear to those who possess a masters or doctorate degree.
Luckily, God does not judge us based on our score cards. He wants us to keep playing on and accept what we get, what He has for us. Some of us may have a full house and others will never roll that. Some have a large amount of time on the straight path and others a small time on the straight path. A few will roll the big time- Yahtzee; but all of us have a chance to live for our self or for the savior. We can fight God's plan or embrace it.
Even when we seek to do all our task for God. we ALL fail from time to time. Even mature Christians.
The reality is that we live on the tree of life, the tree of good and evil. In other words, we consume mostly yellow apples. We consume information. Digesting it can cause us to focus on the facts, faith or the fear factors. We consume other's words. Digesting positive ones, strengths our bodies, minds and spirits, yet consuming insults can cause ulcers, brainstorms, or polluted spirts. We consume sex. Digesting sex that is made up of trust and respect will bring us both pleasure in our bodies as well as hearts and heads and build our relationship with our partner. However, if we consume sex made up of one-night stands and undefined relationships, we may have temporary bodily pleasures that they won't last. What can become a permanent stain, be consumed by loneliness, a broken heart, or/and possess a corrupt mind overwhelmed by regret.
We have opportunities every day to act on what is good or what is evil. They is the beauty and the beast of God's free will. His second greatest gift-choice. He gave us a list of rules to follow to help us make good decisions when we are consuming of the tree. For example, we can ask ourselves does this apple honor my mother or father? or Will this apple become an idol in my heart, if I ingest it?
Ecclesiastes 7:14, "When times are good, be happy; but when times are bad, consider this: God has made the one as well as the other. Therefore, no one can discover anything about their future."
Honesty, though, looking back I find many of my own choices were conditional. In bad, my discomfort blurred the apple's color. I sought after apples that give me information to help me overcome tough circumstances. In my pursue, for both knowledge and control, I consumed the bad side of the apple tree and had to reap the consequences of my choices.
We all eat rotten fruit and it infect us. Even in good times. In good times, it may be easier to make good choices; yet, we still eat bad apples. We consume apples that appear good on the outside, so we take a bite and other until a brown spot alerts to the truth about the apple. This has been a human error since Genesis 3. We have snakes amongst us that convincing us that all apples are worth tasting or not that bad, regardless of what our conscience or the Word of God may say.
Even when we success in this life, regrets seem to follow like a stalker ready to pouch and devour us. Like Adam and Eve, we hate the way we feel. Heartburn, raging stomach, indigestion, and bowel issue can cause us to feel shame. Like Adam and Eve, we still try to hide from God, hoping He didn't see us in that moment of weakness. Yet, our sin exposes us and God find us with the apple core in the palm of our hands.
Luckily for us, God gave his greatest gift-grace. It is like that pink liquid over-the-counter medicine you find near the pharmacy. It is very powerful and almost magically. It covers us with a special coating that allows us to maintain a bond with God regardless of transgressions against His law. It gives us the power and courage to ask for forgiveness and when he do it provides relief from our pain.
Proverbs 24:16, "For though the righteous fall seven times, they rise again, but the wicked stumble when calamity strikes."
Even before Jesus Christ provided this pink elixir, we call grace, God's love was all about the infinite second chances. He gave the Israelites chance after chance to return to Him. His redemption was new every morning. God's love didn't stop with His chosen people. He loved the Ninevites as well. Jonah was given a second chance to do what God ask of Him even when Jonah first rebelled against God's command. God also gave Samson a second chance after Samson betrayal God for the lust of Delilah. When Samson asked for redemption, God gave it to him.
"Then Samson prayed to the Lord, "Sovereign Lord, remember me. Please, God strengthen me just once more and let me with one with one blow get revenge on the Philistines for my two eyes." Judges 16:28-30
Both of those second chances made a huge impact on many people. In Jonah's case, his warning saved all the people and all the animals of Nineveh. In Samson's case, he destroyed a colosseum full of people who were enemies of God's chosen people.
It is a common trait of people to learn best from our failures and others. When we are happy, warm, and comfortable, we remain where we are. When we are hurt, in pain or suffering, we are ready to change our direction. When we bleed, we have a chance to learn how to tuck and roll. Bleeding, we are faced with truth. The truth that this life has both good and evil in it. and so do we. More importantly, we learn that we are not in control of everything and can't change anyone any more than we can control the weather. We can only change ourselves and learn to fight the evil one's influence in our lives. When, we open ourselves up to change, we become teachable. We learn who turn to. We change where we get our knowledge from, our strength from. We learn how to fight and what we are fighting for.
"and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator." Colossians 3:10.
Because we have choices, change is a part of this life. Seasons to Season. Infant to Old age. The dices fall in our hands one minute and the next someone else's take control of them. This life is full of chances. Everything, every time we consume, we are taking a chance with our lives. Our choices are like arrows. We aim at a target with the best of our ability and still miss the bullseye. A gust of wind can change the course of our arrows or the arrow we use may not be the right fit for the target. We may choose to go to college to become a doctor, only to be denied into medical school. We may get married, try our best to make it work and it still doesn’t.
All we can really do is try. We can get ready, get set, and roll. We can roll with the role that God grants us. There are times when we are made to lead whether in business, home, school or spiritually. Other times we are better suited for a supporting role where we assist a leader whether we are a nurse, a receptionist, a solider in the army, or a volunteer in a church ministry.
Where are times in life when we are to stand out of the crowd and stand up for a cause, a person, a group of people, or for our beliefs. There may be a time that we must go against the current when we want to blend in with the crowd's flow. There may be a time to break the normal of what society considers good or bad, in order to ,answer God's call upon our life. Life is a chance and within choices we take. We may fail. We may fall short. We may success only to bleed.
God does not guarantee that we will escape pain or prison when we roll with HIs Will. That is a chance we take. As individuals, a choice we must make because of our God-given gift of free will. With all the uncertain in this life, God is the only certainty. He does promise that He is good and desire good for everyone. He will be with us through all this life throws at us, including the punches, and He promises us eternal life through Jesus Christ. His promises are never a chance. They are an absolute.
Some people may think that I am taking a chance on believing that the Bible is factual, that there is a living God who creator all life forms. Most people will think that I am taking a big chance believing and receiving Jesus as the Lord over my life; however, I am all in.
Like the old saying says, "the greatest the risk, the bigger the reward. " I want to live by faith and not by sight. The other saying, "go big or go home." I am going big so God will say well done when I go home.
I say who is taking the bigger risk, someone who doesn't believe in a heaven AND a hell and the need for Jesus or me?
I like my odds. Really, who is taking the bigger risk-people who does not accept that there is a heaven AND a hell and that Jesus is the only way to heaven or me? If I am wrong, that is no consequence. I left behind a life where I tired to love and respect all persons.
Regardless, I am confidents about my beliefs. I will go from the Garden of Eden to the Garden of Gethsemane. I admit that I took an apple, several, off that tree and I need Jesus to save me from the poison of it all, so I can return to the creator. Now, I live for the one who saved me from the cage that I was in. Jesus said it best Himself "father, not my will, but yours be be done.
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