“TOMATOES!”

Me-Maw Thoughts

Number 650

September 26, 2023///

Today I want to share with you a Me-Maw thought from 2011. We Have all heard the Coca-Cola slogan, “IT’S THE REAL THING”!

In this world of so much fake stuff, let’s be the real deal! Let’s be all we are placed on earth to be. Be who God made you to be!

You can find this 2011 thought and 59 more in “SKYDIVING ME-MAW THOUGHTS” on amazon.

Be blessed as you read or reread this!

ME-MAW THOUGHT–NUMBER 28–JULY 19, 2011

I am doing an unusual thing as I write this.  It is a little after eight o’clock AM and I am eating a TOMATO SANDWICH.  This is made from a tomato grown on our deck.  That is not a normal breakfast and I do not normally eat anything this time of day as I am reading the word and praying for all of you, but there it was…sitting on the counter, all ripe and ready to be cut.

Now for those of us who love tomatoes, the tomatoes grown in our yard or on our deck, compared to the tomatoes purchased from the store, are like a different food.  A just picked Tomato sandwich with plenty of mayonnaise, salt and pepper is an experience that cannot be described. 

As I started making the sandwich the Holy Spirit began to reveal some truths to my spirit.  These truths can be applied to any food that you eat.  Freshly made or freshly grown are better in any food, from apples to cakes.  But since a tomato caused this reflection to start, I will use it as a point of reference.

Some might say that the tomato lying on the counter tempted me to eat it.  But unlike the temptation that Adam and Eve succumbed to, this tomato was not forbidden.  It was good for eating and good for me.  Adam and Eve were tempted by the fruit on the forbidden tree that looked so good to the eye.  My question to you is…in our lives are we showing the love of Christ to others so they will want to partake or are we showing things that look good and tempting but are forbidden by the Heavenly Father in His word.  

WHAT ARE YOU TEMPTING THOSE AROUND YOU WITH??

COLOSSIANS 3:17 And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.

Are we showing those around us the REAL JESUS?

Some of the tomatoes we have pulled from our vines have had bad places on them and parts that cannot be eaten.   Fortunately, we have not had any totally rotten this year, but some tomatoes look great on the outside, but are rotten through and through.

What kind of Jesus are we reflecting by our life?  Are we genuine, loving and kind? Do we really care about those around us?  Are we loving in deed and not just in words?  If we cut into the center of the Jesus we portray, what would we see. 

A true tomato eater can buy a tomato from a roadside stand that is proclaimed to be vine ripened, and the moment they taste it, or sometimes just cut into it they can tell the proclamation is false.  The truth is in the inner parts.

Are we looking good on the outside and tempting people to come to Jesus, only for them to find out that our lives portray “dead men’s bones”, or rotten places through and through?  Our words sound ok and our outside looks appealing but inside we have not relinquished our lives completely to the Lordship of Jesus and when someone looks at us, they see a fake not genuine.

A tomato that has rotten places or is rotten through and through is still a tomato, but there is some of it or all of it that is not fit to use to benefit us by giving us good nourishment.  A person can be saved by the blood of Jesus but not surrender to His Lordship.  Jesus wants to use all your talents, abilities, and the wonderful mind He has given you for Building His Kingdom on earth.

I have cut into a store-bought tomato that looked real and tempting on the outside and found it tasteless and bland. Our lives can look like a wonderful walk with Jesus on the outside, but inside are tasteless and bland.  We have nothing to give, because the things in our world have crowded out the life-giving wonder of serving a living and risen LORD.

1 JOHN 3:18    My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth. ^

The point I want to leave with you is that we need to portray the REAL JESUS by letting Him have full reign in our hearts so that we can tempt people to lay down their self-centered, world aligned thinking and come to the one who can give real joy, peace, and love.

May we feed people the real nourishing genuine gospel, rather than a corrupt half rotten, half-truth gospel. Because the word says that “They (and us) shall know the Truth and the Truth will set them FREE.  Free to live life to its fullest and to fulfill the destiny they were born for.   May we all walk in the truth and the love of Jesus!

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Father, let us be real and walk in truth.  Let our lives portray the fresh genuine Jesus. I ask this for myself and all who read this.  In the mighty name of Jesus Christ.

Please serve the Real Christ!

Love, ME-MAW