BROWN MANGOS AND BLESSED HOPE

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My husband spoils me rotten. There, I’ve publicly confessed it, so now may I move on with this post? 😅 This morning, he was cutting up a mango for my breakfast, and was disgruntled to discover that it had ugly brown spots on the inside. Out of curiosity, I Googled for information about why fruit that looks perfectly good on the outside turns out to be brown on the inside. I won’t bore you with the scientific reasons, but please feel free to do research on your own if you’re interested. Of course, I was also disappointed along with John. But you know what? I choose to be thankful that more often than not, I get to eat wonderful, unblemished mangos!

Many times in life we find people or situations like that. They look so beautiful and appealing on the surface, but when we look deeper, we find rottenness. Or we believe ourselves to be “good” people, but bad things happen in our lives. Death and decay are part of our reality. I don’t have to use Google to understand this kind of corruption, in the hearts of humankind, and in our world at large. Rather, the Bible tells us plainly in Romans 5:12 that “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned.” We live in a fallen world. Fruit will rot, people and situations will cause us pain, and we will all fail because all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23).

But guess what? Just as I choose to rejoice in the countless fresh, juicy mangos my wonderful husband has prepared for me and I have eaten over the years, I also choose to thank God for all the beautiful, good things and people I encounter—because of His grace and mercy. Romans goes on to tell us that …for if by the one man’s offense many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many (Romans 5:15b). Without God’s goodness and kindness, all would be decayed, disgusting, and deplorable. Because He loves us, He gives us new life if we will let Him! I will refuse to focus for too long on brown mango spots and instead I will joyfully celebrate the hope I have in His promises to restore, renew, and give life! 


 


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