The Peachy Life

Welcome to Wilderness Wanderings.  My name is Renita Reed-Thomson, and I have the privilege to serve as a partner missionary with you at Immanuel Christian Reformed Church.  Today I want to talk about living life as a peach, and not an orange. Our text today comes from Colossians 1:15-16: Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation, for through him God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth. He made the things we can see and the things we can't see—Such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world. Everything was created through him and for him. Recently as I flew on a very long flight from Chicago to Addis Ababa, I was unable to sleep and therefore got a lot of reading and writing done.  One quote that I read jumped out at me:  Christians tend to live their lives as oranges, not peaches.  The quote makes sense.  Oranges are segmented.  They are self-contained.  They have a rather strong "flesh" that protects the juice from inside each segment.  Like oranges, we too compartmentalize our lives into segments.  We create layers between them, often unintentionally, that keeps things neatly separate.  From the outside, it looks like one cohesive unit.  It's only upon peeling the orange, that you see the divisions. Eating an orange is easy.  The peel and rind come off relatively neatly with just your fingers.  The segments keep your hands from getting sticky orange juice on them. Peaches, on the other hand, are different.  You need a knife to take off the peel.  The inside pulp of a peach has no divisions.  In fact, the pulp and pit are so connected that it is difficult to separate them.  It's difficult to eat a peach neatly.  Peach juice often drips all over faces, hands and clothes.  Christians (and all humanity in normal everyday life) segment our lives. These segments keep things neat and clean in their isolated boxes. Some of the segments that we have created in our lives are those that we believe are important to God.  Some segments we do not believe are important to God.  The segments we believe are important include church services and activities, social action activities, evangelistic activities.  The segments we do not believe are important are work, rest, leisure, sports and the arts.  We believe that the segments are real and even Biblical.  But they are not. We call this the sacred/secular divide and it has permeated the global church.  This has caused us to be ineffective as ambassadors for Christ from Monday-Saturday, and it has reduced the impact that the church, as the people of God, can have on every sector and industry. Colossians 1:16 reminds us that "all things were created through him and for him."  Colossians 1:20 reminds us that God expects us to bring restoration or reconciliation or shalom of all things to Him.  This includes both material and immaterial things.  And everything in life is connected – it's how it was made to be!  You cannot do just one thing.  There are ripples and impacts everywhere.  And yes, that can get messy – but in good ways! As you go into your day, consider the parts of your life that you have segmented like an orange, and see if there is a way to reduce the compartmentalization, becoming more like a peach, for the glory of God.