This is what I saw when one of my friends brought an apple to the lunch table, but then she took a bite. Her face was one of shock as she turned the apple around to us. The core of the apple was completely rotten. Immediately, God brought some lessons to my mind that we can learn from this nasty, rotten apple.
1. Looks are deceiving.
From the outside, this apple was beautiful. That's why my friend even picked it up in the first place! It looked delicious. A lot of times, Satan does this with sin in our lives. He dangles that beautiful red apple in front of your face and enticing you to take just one bite. But as in the story of Snow White, just one bite hurts. Hebrews 11:25 tells us that Moses chose His people instead rather "than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season." Sin may make you happy for a moment, but that moment won't last. Just like this apple, the first bite may be good, but when you see sin for what it really is, it will disgust and destroy you.
2. Our looks should not be deceiving.
What's on the outside should always match the inside. When my friend bit into her apple, she was expecting it to be savory not sour. The outside appearance should have matched the inside. But there are so many times in our lives that this is simply not true. Modern Christians are experts at putting on a show. We have our life on Sunday in front of our church friends, and we have our life the rest of the week in front of coworkers and other companions. Matthew 6 talks about the importance of not being hypocritical in our worship, specifically through giving, prayer, and fasting. This passage stresses that everything we do is not just for an outward show. If you act like a Christian but your inside is rotten, you are not pleasing God because He can see straight through that (1 Samuel 16:7). The heart is the most important part!
3. What's inside will come out.
Even though the outside of this apple was still beautiful, it wouldn't be long before the outside matched the inside. Luke 6:45 says, "A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh." Eventually, what is inside your heart is going to come out. You may be able to keep it hidden for a time, but whatever you believe and think in your heart and mind is going to come out in the way you live. This is why it's so important for us to make sure that our heart is right. If the heart isn't right, the outside doesn't really matter.
4. The problem starts on the inside.
With this apple, the outside looked great, actually perfect. But inside was the real problem. Something caused the core of that apple to slowly rot away, and eventually, the whole apple would be destroyed. When sin first comes into your life, it starts small. You may not even have had a desire to do wrong. But it happened. And slowly, that small problem grows until it's out of control. James 1:15 talks about the cycle of sin. It starts with lust, that inner desire. Soon, it brings death. This is why the Bible encourages us to run away from sin just like Joseph ran away from Potiphar's wife. Stay as far from it as possible.
This is just one example of the little object lessons that God sends our way every day! Be on the lookout for what He wants to teach you! And in the meantime, don't let your life be like the rotten apple.
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