[moldbreakers]

While I was thinking of writing a post about political disagreements (we will save that for another time), God taught me something using Avocados.

I love avocados.

Avocados are delicious. I started eating them when I found out that 1) not only are they good for you but 2) you can put them on just about anything – and 3) guacamole! – and it would be partially accurate to say my life hasn’t been the same ever since.

I picked up a bag of avocados a few weeks ago – then I made the mistake of placing them in my cabinet instead of my refrigerator.

A few days after I purchased them, I took them down from the cabinet, out of the bag, washed them off and began to slice them open. To my shock and horror, the first avocado was spoiled on the inside, even though it looked perfectly fine on the outside. So was the second, and the third, and the fourth, and well, you get the picture.

The avocados looked fine, but they had been completely ruined on the inside – which meant the whole thing was rotten.

“Ding ding ding,” God said. “You’re the exact same way sometimes.”

It’s very easy for me to go through daily life looking, speaking and acting like I fear God and hold the words of the bible near. But when my heart and mind don’t really feel like striving to look like Christ, I begin to spoil. And when because of spiritual laziness, my heart and mind are actually filled with sin despite what others might see, my whole self is actually rotten.

And it is just a matter of time before the evidence comes to the surface.

I’m not going to be able to fake my actions and words for long because the mouth and heart are vitally connected. In Luke 6, Jesus teaches, “What you say flows from what is inside your heart.” Soon, the rottenness will spread. Selfish thoughts will turn into selfish deeds. Angry whispers to myself will turn into angry yells at others. Lustful glances will transform into lustful actions.

More than that, a rotten heart isn’t glorifying to God. God made us as treasures, not trash. He has made us for greatness and has given us the ability to be clean before him and show off his nature to others. Look at David’s writing in Psalm 19. David pleads that God will make both his heart and his words pleasing.

“Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight.”

David knew that without both appropriate words and a proper heart, he would not be glorifying to God. It is the same for us. My praise to God and my witness to his glory are worthless unless I have a heart that mediates on and submits to his word and an attitude seeks to obey him. It’s like giving a gift where the box is wrapped in the finest wrapping paper and the shiniest bows – but when the person opens is there’s nothing inside; it looks great on the outside but ultimately doesn’t make a difference (And really, why would we fake it?).

The truth is, we are all spoiled on the inside. Just like avocados, what is spoiled doesn’t become fresh again – at least not by itself. The great news for us is that David tells us how God will remedy our heart condition so that we can live in the joy and freedom that comes with being ripe fruits for God. First, we must have a relationship with Jesus Christ as our Savior. Secondly, we ask him to guide us and evaluate the deepest parts of us. Going back to verse 12 and 13, David is humbly but expectantly praying to God, “How can I know all the sins lurking in my heart? Cleanse me from these hidden faults. Keep your servant from deliberate sins! Don’t let them control me. Then I will be free of guilt and innocent of great sin.”

He needed to be cleaned – refreshed and remade. That’s not something he could do, but it was something he could count on God to do. David is asking God to protect him from the sins that would sneak up and corrupt his heart. The more intimate areas of our lives like our thoughts and attitudes are the easiest to ignore and (just like the avocados) the hardest to diagnose. But – and this is good news – God loves enough to guide us when we are wrong and heal us from all uncleanliness.

Another thing we can do to protect ourselves is to constantly evaluate our surroundings and the constant company we keep. If I had placed the avocados in the refrigerator, they would’ve lasted much longer than they did in the cabinet. Likewise, our heart does much better in the companionship of godly people than following in the footsteps of fools. (Proverbs 13).

I don’t want to fake my life by acting and speaking as God would have but actually having a heart that is sinful and dark. My words may seem like they make a difference, but they will eternally ring hollow if they aren’t truly a reflection of what is in my heart.

God’s plans for us are better and more fruitful than that life if we just trust in him. As we seek to #breakthemold, let us throw away the rotten parts of our hearts and ask God to renew every part of us so we can truly glorify him. For Christians, the inside and the outside have to both be fresh.

“The human heart is the most deceitful of all things,

and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is?

But I, the Lord, search all hearts and examine secret motives.

I give all people their due rewards, according to what their actions deserve.

But blessed are those who trust in the Lord and have made the Lord their hope and

confidence.” Jeremiah 17:9-10; 7