Red Bananas

"Oh look, they have bought the expensive red bananas!"  The missionary was giving us a clue to the valuable gift we were being offered.    I was on a mission trip with 15 other US women in the Philippines.  At that moment we were visiting an inner city type of mission.  I can't remember the specific place or name but their gift of love and sacrifice is vivid in my memory.

I hate bananas.  I always refuse them.  Yet when the missionary made her exclamation, I immediately took one of those precious, expensive bananas and popped it in my mouth.  Out of their meager resources, these people had chosen us to  give a very expensive gift of love.  I showed my appreciation for their generous gift by receiving it.

The first twenty-one verses in Chapter 14 of Deuteronomy may seem like a list of good food and bad food but I also see in them one of God's profession of love.  There are very specific instructions on what animals are detestable and which are permissible to eat.  It may have been a list of acceptable and unacceptable food since the Israelites were going to live in  a new land. Perhaps there were very valid health issues so God was protecting the Israelites.  It could have been a plan to manage the environment.  Some of the animals they were not to eat were the scavengers and they play a very important role in maintaining a balance in the environment .  Or it may have been a cultural statement.   They were not to eat like the other nations.  Israel had been chosen by God as a treasured possession, out of all the peoples on Earth,  so they were to stand out by what they eat and don't eat.

Out of all the people on Earth today, God has chosen me, and you, to build a relationship.  He has given and will continue to give me guidance on how to live this strange life on Earth.  Why?  Because you and I have been chosen by Him and given a very expensive gift.  God gave us the opportunity to receive His love and protection.  As I follow His way of living, I will stand out  and others will know that I belong to God.

Too often we get so consumed by following the rules and determining right and wrong we forget that we are chosen and loved.  We think that we earn His affection by following the rules and then lose sight of the real reason for our way of life. We are to show our appreciation for the expensive gift God gave by living as the treasured, so others will see how great is God's love!