One thing I love about fall is the changing of colors of nature and the cooler temperatures. We also head right into the Thanksgiving season and then shortly after that Christmas. It’s a beautiful time of year. But this year, it’s a little bittersweet because as we near this time of year, we also get closer to our departure from our home, the place we’ve known for 15 years as a married couple but also this state where we’ve lived all our lives and the only thing our now 4 children have known as well. I’m still working through it and will be for a while.
Another thing that I always miss as we turn the pages of summer is the fresh fruit. I know we don’t have great fresh fruit like some other parts of the world, but we still have some really good ones. This summer, I ate some of the best fruit: perfectly tender and sweet peaches from Colorado, fresh apples we picked straight out of an orchard in New York, and the biggest and juiciest watermelon from Rush Springs.
In this changing season, I want to bring you some fresh thoughts on fruit and truths from scripture too good not to share. There are not very many specific fruits mentioned in scripture and so we can certainly find some significance in the handful that are present as they hold deeper meaning than one might initially expect or be able to realize at first bite.
For week one, I give you the pomegranate. In recent years, their popularity has risen as the health food industry has been making bold claims of their powerful nutrient properties.
We first see this superfood come on the scene when God instructs Moses on decorating the priestly robes for Aaron and his sons to wear in the administration of tabernacle duties. They were to be sewn with bright colors on the hem of the robe, encircling the circumference alternating spaces with bells. (Ex 28)
One tradition ties this fruit to righteousness because it was said that on average, they have 613 seeds. This is significant because it’s the exact number of Jewish laws from the Torah (the first five books of the Old Testament). Hence, why it was worn by the priests.
We then see them again as God promises the Israelites a bountiful land with “brooks, streams, and deep springs gushing out into the valleys and hills; a land with wheat and barley, vines and fig trees, pomegranates, olive oil and honey; a land where bread will not be scarce and you will lack nothing; a land where the rocks are iron and you can dig copper out of the hills.” (Duet 8)
This fruit was held in high regard because of the beauty in the colors of the plant overall and I found a few places that mentioned it not only its representation for sanctity but also fertility and abundance.
So, what’s this high antioxidant, high vitamin-c, semi anti-inflammatory superfood have to do with our wholeness of life restoration? It’s a matter of the heart. While there is some research suggesting it has properties that boost heart health, the heart of the matter in scripture makes it a matter of the heart.
In the verses that follow this bountiful promise in Duet 8, including the superlative pomegranate, God gives some further instruction and offers a warning. Verses 10-20 summarized say this When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the LORD your God…and…do not forget the LORD your God… You may say to yourself, “My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.”…but it was the LORD…If you ever forget the LORD your God and follow other gods and worship and bow down to them…you will surely be destroyed…”
Being associated with bounty and plentiful, the pomegranate serves to bring us a moment of reflection about a few things:
1. In our excess, in our plenty, in our richness and goodness, do we acknowledge God OR do we celebrate our OWN power and strength and take credit for ourselves? This is a formula for disaster as “Pride goes before a fall.” Proverbs 16:18
2. Have we forgotten God by failing to follow His lead? Verse 11 says that failing to follow His instructions is the same thing or is the very way we forget about God.
3. God’s provision should lead us to life changes. We become transformed as we think differently and we express love for God by loving others in the ways we love ourselves. (Romans 12:2, Matt 22:29) So, if you love a new outfit, or Starbucks PSL, or golfing, then how can you love someone in that same way!? Only as a response to accepting the love God has for you!
It may seem like Christianity and following Jesus is a cause-and-effect game. Where our actions (cause) generate a punishment or reward (effect) from God. But the reality is the reciprocal. It is an EFFECT-and-CAUSE situation. God loves us (effect) and it generates a response of obedience and faith (cause) which makes a difference in how we live each day.
After last month’s series, this just seemed like a perfect next phase for us. Hopefully you will go buy a pomegranate or drink some pomegranate juice and find a new reality of God in the abundance in your life. And may your days be different as you remember and respond to God’s love for you and goodness to you.
#Pomegranate
#EffectAndCause
#FruitBasket
#RestoringWholenessOfLife
Brett
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