Throwing Apples

Steve Boots
5 minutes ago
2 min read

And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure. 1 John 3:3

Growing up, we had four apple trees in our back yard. They were there when we moved in, and it was apparent that they were never really pruned or trimmed the way they should have been. They didn’t produce apples that were any bigger than about the size of a plum. Many of them ended up with worm holes, and they were on the edge of sour, but there were hundreds of them amongst those four trees. And my brothers and I learned pretty quickly that they made great weapons. I’m not sure who threw the first apple, but apple fights became a staple of almost every summer day. If you have never been hit in the back with an apple at close range, then you will never understand the desire to fire an apple back in the direction it came from. We were so serious with our apple fights that we even had rules of engagement.

One of those rules was very clear – no engagement when you were supposed to be working in the yard. We cut and split wood, mowed grass, took care of the animals, and had lots of other varied responsibilities, and the apple fights were never to get in the way of those responsibilities. But how do you not retaliate when an apple becomes an unexpected projectile that interrupts your work? Before you could say “Johnny Appleseed,” a full-blown apple fight was back on. And it never failed, Dad always came walking around the corner when the apple was already mid-flight. There was no way of wiggling out of that one. After many years of hard-headedness, I finally learned that the way to not get caught throwing apples when I was supposed to be working was to not throw apples in the first place. Profound, I know.

One of these days, the Lord is coming back. I don’t want Him to catch me in the middle of doing something I shouldn’t be doing. I don’t want Him to come when I am not ready. I don’t want to be caught shirking my responsibility. I want Him to find me busy for Him on the day the trumpet sounds, and He comes back for me. The best way to ensure that you are ready for His return is to always be busy in His service, stay away from sin, and live as if He could come back today. I was never prepared to see my dad’s face, and to be honest, I didn’t want to see my dad’s face when I was throwing apples when I wasn’t supposed to. And we will never look forward to the coming of Christ if we are not living for Him. If we will live for Him, we will long for His coming the way we should.