Bad apples
When I need a kick-start I usually choose a double-shot espresso.
But now I’ve found another way to get a sudden boost of energy—Pink Ladies. I’m not talking about fair coloured females… I’m talking about a special variety of apple.
Pink Ladies are crunchy… Pink ladies are juicy… Pink Ladies are sweet. Quite simply, Pink Ladies are delicious.
Yet even this wonderful brand of apple cannot satisfy every time.
If you are a seasoned apple-eater then you will know the earth-shattering experience of biting into a rotten apple… an apple that looks great on the outside but tastes like rotting flesh on the inside.
It’s such an awful experience that we’d try and avoid it if we could. I’m sure we’d even buy apple X-Ray machines if it would somehow help.
But the problem is that you can’t tell from the outside whether an apple is rotten to the core.
This is also true of people.
Just because you look like a Christian…
When a person has been going along to a youth group or a church for a while, it’s not long before that person starts to look ‘Christian’. They start to walk the walk and talk the talk. Very soon they have all the appearances of a Christian person.
But sometimes it’s only the outside that has changed… but not the inside.
What about you? Are you like an apple that looks beautiful on the outside but are rotten on the inside? Do you look like a Christian on the outside but are still a non-Christian on the inside?
I’m not talking about whether you still have sinful thoughts or feelings… they are part of the normal struggle of every Christian person.
What I’m talking about is whether you’ve ever actually asked Jesus to be the Lord of your life, whether you’ve asked him to be your loving ruler, whether you’ve really become a Christian.
If not, why not? Are you too scared to hand over control of your life to God? Or do you want to hold onto your ‘freedom’?
Well, be warned that you can fool everyone except God.
Becoming an apple
God knows your hearts (Luke 16:14).
Everyone might think that you’re a delicious red apple, but God knows if you’re not right on the inside.
So, why not make things right with God? It’s really easy! God tells us:
‘if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved’ (Romans 10:9).
And the result? God will now overlook your rotten core and instead treat you as if you had Jesus’ perfect core. God will now credit us with righteousness, “for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead.” (Romans 4:24).
Isn’t it wonderful to know that God loves bad apples?