There is nothing prettier than an apple tree in blossom, but with blossoms come bugs and worms and if the trees aren’t treated, with the apples come more bugs and worms.
What a change from pretty. That’s how we are. We have this smiling pretty face and out of it comes nasty thoughts, words and accusations and yes, even gossip.
It’s easy to point a finger at another’s apple bugs but ignore the big worms you are sporting. Oh how we love to live holier-than-thou lives above our neighbors.
Wormy apples come from a tree untreated. Let’s at least pay as much attention to our own foibles and sins as we do when we judge and persecute another.
“It’s easy to see a smudge on your neighbor’s face and be oblivious to the ugly sneer on your own. Do you have the nerve to say, ‘Let me wash your face for you,’ when your own face is distorted by contempt? It’s this I-know-better-than-you mentality again, playing a holier-than-thou part instead of just living your own part. Wipe that ugly sneer off your own face and you might be fit to offer a washcloth to your neighbor.
“You don’t get wormy apples off a healthy tree, or good apples off a diseased tree. The health of the apple tells the health of the tree. You must begin with your own life-giving lives. It’s who you are, not what you say and do, that counts. Your true being brims over into true words and deeds. (Luke 6:42-45, MSG)
Prayer- Lord we confess our guilt. We need you to spray our voices and our attitudes just as we would spray a diseased apple tree. Help us to be and do better, so we might be tasty to the world. Amen.
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