Red Delicious?

Red Delicious.  By all accounts, based on the name, these should be the best or, almost the best apples.  They just aren't the best, by any means.

The first Red Delicious apple tree was grown on a farm near Peru, Iowa in 1880.  People liked it immediately and recognized it as a good eating apple.  It has been grown ever since.

I don't mind Red Delicious apples, in fact, I quite like them.  Except for one thing.  Many of them are hypocrites.

On the outside, they appear firm and beautifully red in color, but when you bite into them, you find a soft apple that lost its flavor awhile ago.  Beauty may be only skin deep, but with apples, it is the flavor and the texture that are important, not the color of the peeling.

There are far too many people who claim to be Christians who do not have the "taste" of Christians to others.  Everyone knows what a Christian is supposed to be, what he is supposed to do, and how he should act.  They are pretty quick to notice and point out inconsistencies.

There is little worse, to one who does not know Christ, then to see someone who claims to be a Christian act in a way that is not Christ-like.  I have heard so many people say things like:  "I would never be a Christian.  My brother claims to be one and he's the biggest hypocrite you ever saw!"

It is my responsibility to live as a true disciple of Christ.  It must not, cannot be just a surface change.  It will only be real if my heart is changed.

Red Delicious apples are all too often Mealie Masqueraders.  I would be like a Fuji or, a Gala apple, where what is on the surface goes to the core.  Love, kindness -- the sweetness of Christ permeating my life and leading others to Him.