“Why do you separate your bananas?” 🍌 🍌
the Spirit asked me, in inner-dialogue the other day, as I was putting away groceries I had just brought home from the store.
Of course He knew the answer,
but the purpose was to prod me into thought about it…and the deeper reason behind the question…
So I answered…
“Because if they stay together, they’ll ripen too fast. I want to slow the process down.”
🤔
Hmmm.
Really was some “food” for thought 😉
{pun totally intended here because y’all know I love a good pun!}
But for real- there are some real spiritual parallels here!
Have you ever considered the great lengths the enemy has gone to, in this world, to keep Christians from getting too close to each other or to others, so we won’t be “ripe” and ready for Jesus’s arrival?!
- 2020 and COVID: literal separation, literal masks hiding our faces and our emotions, 6 foot distancing in public, churches forced to meet online instead of in person
- Now habit: some have gone so long without meeting in person for worship and study that it’s their new norm. But we can’t practice Christlikeness and service well, apart from His Church. So not as much ripening is happening it seems.
- Busyness: my husband and I have speculated on this SO much. I don’t know exactly when the change happened, but youth sports went from being recreational to being essential for most people, and from being seasonal to CONTINUAL. All sports seems to – at least by the high school level- practice during ALL seasons, and it’s not enough to be in one there’s pressure to do them ALL, and be all in all we do. School leagues, additional rec leagues, travel leagues, all-star leagues. Where will it end?! And it’s not just sports. It’s other stuff too. Even essential stuff like work, but working for a fullness instead of from it so that we are constantly trying to fill an empty tank. And all of this filling is keeping us from the One who truly wants to and CAN fill us better than anything!
So the deeper question I’m pondering now is why?
Why so much increased effort on the enemy’s part to keep us (church families) in our own separate lives?
It feels obvious but I also don’t know how I feel about stating it. I’m not really a fan of ruffling feathers, but here goes. {God please give me boldness and courage to speak Truth in a spirit of Love… 🙏🏻}:
Perhaps the time is getting shorter.
(I don’t know when the end will be of course. Nobody does. But the signs are starting to show that this world is getting closer to harvest season.)
When that time comes for harvest,
only the ripe-
only the ready-
will get to enter into His Kingdom.
(I’m not saying that because I want it to be true, I’d prefer that everyone get to go. I’m saying it because it IS true, and because I want everyone to know they have a choice to go. And because it feels ultra important – even if uncomfortable- to point out that we are often choosing, moment by moment, to be so busied in other areas of life that we forget about our Kingdom lives here and the eternal life that will follow.)
Nothing can separate us from the love of God, it’s true.
EXCEPT OURSELVES.
So this post may be controversial and for me it’s certainly uncomfortable. But I feel like He is asking me to pose the question today- {though it’s none of my business for whom, I’m not pointing fingers or prodding here, only obeying and asking}—
What, if anything, is keeping you from being ripe and ready for harvest?
What is keeping you from gathering together, with other believers, and worshipping together?
Is there something else in your life taking up all your time, that maybe you’re worshipping instead, even if you’d never call it that?
(Looking back in different seasons of our life there DEFINITELY were things keeping our priorities misaligned, that we had to submit to Him to be put in their places or removed entirely. Was it comfortable? No. Did we have FOMO? Of course. But has there been spiritual blessing on the other side of that? YES! And it’s been worth every bit of it!)
What is keeping you from spending quality personal time with God?
If Jesus came back tomorrow,
would He say that you know Him (have an intimate personal and currently active relationship with Him) and invite you into Heaven?
Or would He say- I never knew you…
Or would He say- I used to know you, and I’ve missed you. I wish you would have stayed close to me…
(Don’t answer this aloud for me now, I’m not asking you to reveal yourself to me. I am only writing this to help others self-reflect, as we have had to do and still have to do, over and over in our walk with Him, so that if anyone needs to make some adjustments to their priorities or their calendars, or pray for Him to make some adjustments to their hearts- they can. Before it’s too late.)
One day, the end will come.
Every day, is someone’s last.
But Jesus says that if we love HIM with all our hearts, souls, minds, strength… (all our time, energy, affection)… and if we make Him the Lord {boss} of our lives, then death won’t have the last laugh.
I’ve seen too many deaths in my newsfeed lately.
The only comfort in that is when we know that we know someone was living for Him, because then we know they are living (eternally) WITH Him in Heaven.
And that’s what we want for everyone, in and beyond our friends’ list. ❤️
I even want it enough to risk someone unfollowing me because I’ve offended them.
Even though if you know me you know that I’d prefer everyone feel loved by me and comforted, not offended.
This world is going bananas, y’all. 🍌
We need a peace more secure than this world has to offer.
From Full 