I love color. I have a bright red accent table in my office.
The sofa in my living room is purple. Depending
on my mood, the polish on my fingernails can be anything from turquoise to orange.
Each bridesmaid in my wedding wore a different color gown because I couldn’t
narrow it down to just one color. There’s no need to ask me which Homer
Laughlin Fiestaware colors I have in my kitchen cabinet. I have them all, and
not just in my cabinets but all over my house. I have this need to use as many
different colors as possible. Shamrock, peacock, sunflower, scarlet, poppy, it
goes on and on.
Season after season, people who make, advertise, and sell
things like nail polish, bridesmaid gowns, and dishes often get pretty creative
in naming the colors. I guess they feel that naming it something other than red
year after year gives the impression that there’s something new and exciting
about the product. So, basic red becomes something like Fired Up or Cheery
Cherry.
Colors are some of the first things we learn to identify
even before we can formulate complete sentences. While at some point in our lives we all have coveted
the big Crayola 64-crayon box, it is still hard to outgrow that primary color
knowledge. We couldn’t even come up with a better or more accurate color
descriptor for a juicy Florida orange than, well, orange.
Sporty, speedy cars are candy apple red. Tangerine, plum, persimmon,
and lemongrass are official Fiestaware colors. There’s a strawberry blonde bottled hair dye. There
is a longstanding association between fruit and color and we are helpless to
break it because there simply is not a better alternative. Fruit is color.
Color is fruit. If you Google images for fruit the results will be page after
page of bright colors. Purple grapes, green kiwis, yellow bananas. Even the
blackberries aren’t black. They’re a rich violet color. It’s a very visually
stimulating picture.
When the apostle Paul said, “But the fruit of the Spirit is
love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness,
self-control; against such things there is no law,” he was telling the
Galatians to look around. You should be able to recognize the people who follow
Jesus and are filled with the Spirit. Their true colors will be evident.
Jesus touched on something similar when he closed his Sermon
on the Mount (Matthew 7). He said, “You will recognize them by their fruits.”
Jesus wasn’t telling them to look for bushels of peachy peaches. He was telling
them to look for vibrancy in their mission to serve Him. If we’re truly serving
Jesus, there will be some visual evidence.
The evidence will be bright enough to be noticeable by others and
deliciously intriguing enough for them to want to fill their baskets with it
too.
In that sermon Jesus also talks about good fruit and bad
fruit. At our house, my husband likes
firm, green bananas. I like them a little soft with just a few brown specs on
the peel. When we buy a bunch, he starts eating them right away. I have to wait
three or four days. Then practically overnight the last one or two in the bunch
become totally brown and neither of us will eat them. We throw those out
because nobody wants a banana that’s lost it’s color and flavor.
We use lemons and limes to dilute the taste of fish. We use
cherries and grapes to mask the taste of medicine. The taste of fruit is potent, especially when
it’s fresh. Our enemy Satan also knows the power in the alluring color and impressively
scrumptious taste of fruit. That’s why it was the very first thing he ever used
to tempt a human being.
Satan was trying to use something
that wasn’t his to give Eve something she didn’t need. He’s still trying do to
that with you and me. However, God is the one that made that fruit and He’s the
only one that can fill us with the fruit of His Spirit. Don’t be tempted. Flash
that color wheel of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness,
faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control at Satan. It will make others wonder
if you had oatmeal for breakfast. More than likely, though, it was probably a
fruit salad and they just might want you to share.
This was originally posted April 5, 2015 on The Press and Standard website:
