No rotten tomatoes here

Good afternoon.  As I mowed earlier, my eyes were drawn to the color at the edge of the house.  See it?  The first picture?  Although this tomato plant was put into the ground later in the season, it is still blooming.  Picture number two shows the harvest it is now putting out, here in mid-October!  But, sadly, picture number three shows...one piece of bad fruit.  Not so bad right?  One out of seven?  Hmn.

Late bloomers.  Some of us don't start the Christian walk until our later years.  And once the Son shines on us and our roots start to grow, we produce fruit.  But maybe because we came into the game later in life, every thing cannot be perfect.  Each piece of fruit will not be suitable for consumption.  Don't let that one "bad apple" spoil the whole bunch, friends.  Don't think that because not all you yield are useful that your labor is in vain.  Sometimes--in spite of your best intentions--some of your crop is going to be bad.  But that doesn't mean that you are.

As you ponder these words today, I want to encourage you to examine yourselves.  Is your fruit ripe?  Is it in need of some more time on the vine?  Does it need just a little more sunshine from your window sill, where it is protected from the bugs of the world, or has the blight taken it out of the picture?  "A man is known by his fruits," said Jesus Christ in Matthew 7:16.  Go harvest your crops.  You can't save them all but you can nurture the ones in your care.

Let's pray!

Dear Lord, I've been wondering and pondering on the latest event in my life that is going to be evidence of the fruit You have sown in me.  Am I like that one tomato that looked so good on the outside but then, when I am turned over, my insides are full of rottenness?  Am I one thing to some, inviting them in, teaching them about You, but so filled with filth when examined closely?

Oh Lord!  I'm struggling with this one!  Sometimes the forces of nature are just too much for one to bear continuously.  Like that tomato when it first began, full of promise, sometimes the world and its sin come in and destroy from within.  Help me, I pray, sweet Father, to bear fruit that is worthy of Your sacrifice.  Show me what to do or keep me on Your window sill and shine some more into me until my time of ripening is nigh.  In Jesus' precious name I pray.  Amen.