When I was a child we used to go to my great-grandmother's house on Saturdays quite often. Tons of my relatives would show up and we would eat, talk and play together. It was an awesome time of fun for me as a kid. On one of these Saturdays at grandma's, when I was around twelve years old I got "watermeloned"!
"Watermeloned" is my term for a turn-off from something that I have had enough of for a while. In this case of turn-off from watermelon, I had become very sick after eating watermelon at grandma's during one of these Saturday gatherings. It could have possibly been something else I ate that day. Nevertheless, that was it for me and watermelon for about twenty-five years! I have from time-to-time eaten watermelon since my long hiatus from it, but never have had the yearning for it like I did as a child.
This has happened to me with a few other foods as well, for shorter periods of time. For instance, I was "watermeloned" by pizza, after two decades of youth ministry. I also grew adverse (was watermeloned) by so called Mexican food, after eating real Mexican food growing up in south Texas and then being subject to the "Americanized" versions in other places I have lived. Yesterday I ate some sausage and realized I have been "watermeloned" by it too.
Too much of some things that seem good can just make you sick. Cigarettes started tasting totally nasty to me after smoking for about five years. I tried every brand and flavor, I was "watermeloned" by smokes. I was sick and tired of puking and being out of control from drinking, "watermeloned" again.
I would think that after all this "being watermeloned" by so many things in my life, I would have sinned enough by now to be sick of it and stopped sinning for good! Sadly, we just can't "watermelon" ourselves from our sin. We can't quite sinning in our own strength
Sin grows on a vine that we are born into and we will never get off of it in our own strength. However there is a Vine that we can be grafted into so that sin no longer holds us as its slave.
“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing" (John 15:5). This verse is talking of bearing fruit in our lives. In it Jesus calls Himself "the Vine". When we go to Him for our salvation and forgiveness of our sins, we won't have to hope, or try to "watermelon" ourselves out of our sinfulness. We just ask Him to graft us into His vine and we are forgiven. You might say: "watermeloned from our sin" by Jesus!
Drop me a line,
Greg
2 comments:
I thought Mexican food in Texas (or Tex-Mex) was generally considered to regionalized and too Americanized to be considered "authentic" Mexican.
I think you are probably right Jenny, at least now-a-days. When I was in elementary school in south Texas there were Mexican ladies who cooked in the school kitchen. We had awesome, real Mexican food several times a week! Hot sauce on the cafeteria tables too! Probably no school in the U.S. would allow that now! It is all "Tex-Mex" here. I miss the real thing! Thanks for the read Jenny!
Greg
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