SIBERIAN TOMATOES - Cross Purposes 134

Cross Purposes 134

September 15 2008

SIBERIAN TOMATOES (Yeh! Tomatoes not Tigers!)

Some time ago friends sent me a copy of a daily devotion based on Siberian Tomatoes. It’s written in an old style of language but its message is reasonably clear. (I don’t know the authors name!)

“Siberian Tomatoes

Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. James 1:4

In Siberia, where the summer daylight hours are extra long, tomatoes grow huge and green. Unlike the tomatoes in northern California where I live now, and in southern Illinois where I used to live, the tomatoes in the Siberian fields do not turn red and ripen. The early winter frost always hits before the tomatoes mature.

Like Siberian tomatoes, we never ripen to the perfect redness and juiciness God intended. Like a hard winter frost, our own sin thwarts us from ever reaching perfect maturity. Yet out of pure mercy, God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to attain for us perfect maturity and completeness that we could not attain ourselves. Now when God looks at us who depend entirely on Christ, God sees the rich, red ripeness of Jesus, not the hard, green immaturity of our soul.”

I rather like some of the thoughts here – especially about Jesus Christ being our ‘maturity’ before the Father. I’m not so sure about the idea of ‘never ripening’. I believe with all my being that change is possible “in this life”, that hard hearts can be unhardened “in this life”, that a softening and ripening of my whole life is possible in this life. Just reflect for a moment on what Paul wrote to the Christians in Ephesus.

Ephesians 4:11-16 “ So it was Christ himself who gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.”

I’m really encouraged in these things by Paul who makes it clear that we can set our minds and hearts on growth and maturity (Romans: 8:11) and who reminds us and assures us of the God who makes it all possible because he has placed us in the best place of all: “In Christ”!
Philippains 4:13 “I can do everything through him who gives me strength.”
Philippains 2:13 “God is working in you to make you willing and able to obey him.
So there! Even in this life the Lord Jesus is working on you being a juicy, ripe, red tomato!
Bless you
Fred

Here’s a joke for you, to comfort you if you’re ever been misunderstood.

“Well, Mrs O’connor, so you want a divorce?” the solicitor questioned his client. “Tell me about it. Do you have a grudge?”
“Oh, no,” replied Mrs O’connor. “Shure now, we have a carport.”
The solicitor tried again. “Well, does the man beat you up?”
“No, no,” said Mrs O’connor, looking puzzled. “O’im always first out of bed.”
Still hopeful, the solicitor tried again. “Well, does he go in for unnatural connubial practices?”
“Shure now, he plays the flute, but I don’t think he knows anything about the connubial.”
Now desperate, the solicitor pushed on. “What I’m trying to find out are what grounds you have.”
“Bless ye, sor. We live in a flat – not even a window box, let alone grounds.”
“Mrs O’connor,” the solicitor said in considerable exasperation, “you need a reason that the court can consider. What is the reason you seeking this divorce?”
“Ah, well now,” said the lady. “Shure it’s because the man can’t hold an intelligent conversation.”