Everything but the seeds...

I have a friend who loves apples. Now that may not sound impressive because many of us love apples; nice, fresh, crisp apples especially in the fall when they are in season. They say that an apple a day keeps the doctor away, so they must be good for us. I love them, too. But when my friend eats an apple, the whole thing is consumed. I mean except for the stem and the seeds, the rest is history. I have never seen anyone else eat an apple so completely.

It makes sense to me to eat an apple the way normal people do. My Grandpa always used his pocket knife to cut slivers from an apple, stab it and eat it; one after another until the flesh was gone (not from his fingers, but the apple.). Grandma used to carefully create a long ribbon of apple peel with a paring knife before coring and quartering for us to eat. And most simply shine the apple on their shirt before crunching into the sweet flesh.

Yet all of these ways of eating apples are different from my friend because they stop at the core. It's firmer than the rest. It has less flavor than the flesh. Its texture is different. It has seeds. But does it have any less nutrition? I'm not sure about that.

Okay, so I'm not saying that of all people I know, my one friend is the only one who has it right when it comes to eating apples, but it does make me think, isn't that the way it is for most of us when it comes to almost anything, we'll take the sweet part and throw out the rest. We'll consume that which is the easiest and when it gets to the harder parts, we pass. I eat broccoli like that. I'll take the tops and leave the stems everytime. But maybe I shouldn't.

The Christian faith is like an apple. There is a peel like doctrine on the promises of God that protects the softer, sweeter flesh of fellowship, place, acceptance, forgiveness, grace, gifts, methodist pot-lucks, all the benefits of being a part of the Kingdom of God. This is the part we all love to consume. It's the best part...maybe.

The core is important, too. In the Christian faith the hard, center core is pure love; unconditional, unselfish, uncontaminated. Yet so many times when it comes to this kind of love, we'll throw it out as too difficult. We'll take the easier, sweeter parts of Christianity but we'll leave the core to someone else, those strange people who can withstand the effort and sacrifice to love that completely. Maybe we need to look at the core again.

Paul wrote to his partner and missionary pastor, Timothy, that "The whole point of what we're urging is simply love - love uncontaminated by self-interest and counterfeit faith, a life open to God. Those who fail to keep to this point soon wander off into cul-de-sacs of gossip." (1 Timothy 1:5, The Message) His message was simple. Love is supposed to be at the center of a Christian's being, but if it is not at the center what we do, or how we act, then we fail, "wandering off" in countless ways.

We need to go back to the core. It may be difficult and not as sweet as the rest, but it holds the faith all together, it holds us together. We can't throw it out, ever. It's what brought God's favor to us. It's what will give honor back to God.

Love is the core.

So...

Love from the core.

Peace ><>
PC