Confessions of a Bad Banana...

This morning I was in a bit of a banana crazed mood. I know what you're thinking. Really Rachel? You're going to write a blog about bananas? Go with me on this. Anyway, after I had finished my banana nut muffin I decided to move on to the real thing. I was pleased to find my mom had just gone to the store and I beheld three seemingly perfectly ripe bananas. They had no bruises on the outside, no dark indentations either. Their skin was a perfect yellow. And they had that slight firmness to them. I couldn't have gone out to the backyard and picked better ones off the tree. Or so I thought.

Upon opening the first one I discovered the inside to be almost completely black. It was disgusted. I stood there in almost a state of shock. Not because I'd never seen a rotten banana before, but my brain didn't almost believe what my eyes were telling me. What looked so good and perfect on the outside was completely putrid on the inside. After opening two other bananas only to find the exact same thing I gave up. What a waste of a sixty-nine cents.

I never expected a banana would let me down like that, but I also never expected to learn such a spiritual analogy from it either. It made me think. How many times have I been just like this banana? I mean, I look good from the outside. I go to church every Sunday, I read my Bible, I write blogs, I live by the phrase "no wed, no bed" and while I enjoy an occasional drink, I never have more than 1 at a time. I don't do drugs, I stayed in school, all around I look pretty good on the outside. I'm religiously a'okay. But when you get to the heart is the same true? That one I'm not so sure about.

I've realized lately just how legalistic the church can be at times. And we get so caught up in it. I think that's why so many people fall away when they get to college. Because they were not grounded, secure in the relationship. Faith is not about following a set of rules. It's not just going through the motions. Jesus Christ did not come so we could simply follow His example on how to live a perfect life. He came to seek. He came to save (Luke 19:10). I don't want a religion. Even the pagans have that. I want a relationship. What sets Christ apart from any other "god" like Allah or Budda is that not only was He the only one to come back from the dead, but He's also the only one to offer grace. The only one to offer a relationship where it's not about what you do, it's about who you know. And once we realize this, it changes us. We're no longer bound by this self hatred of "I'm nothing but a dirty rotten sinner." No, I'm a redeemed, already bought and paid for, saint.

I don't want to be like the banana this morning. I don't want to put on a mask and a pretense of little miss perfect. Because that's not whats inside. Whats inside is a girl with issues. But also whats inside is a girl with issues who know's she's saved.

So what's left? Well, it's time to cut away the rotten parts of the banana. It's time for a change of heart. It's time to be true faced. It's time to let God have and mold the inside, not just the outward motions. It's time the inner and outer matched, imperfect, but under grace. It's time to have the light shine and expose the darkness. You can't serve two masters (Matthew 6:24). You can't hide under religion forever. It's a problem if people only know you're a Christian by your facebook. It's a problem if you kneel at the cross in prayer and you don't know who you're praying to.

Ephesians 5:8 "For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light."