The King of Fruit

The beautiful fruit on the left is a Fulford Gala. It is described as such:

"It comes from a cross between the Kidd's Orange Red [apples] and Golden Delicious [apples]. Gala was introduced to the United States in the 1970s. Because of its popularity, many different 'sports' of Gala have been propogated, each having some beneficial characteristic. In general, Gala is a very 'safe' apple. Not too sweet or sour, no unusual tastes or textures, but offering a very pleasing aroma and eating experience. Fulford Gala hails from New Zealand. Its color is a bright orange-red with yellow background. Fulford Gala is a larger sized Gala, with a blush red rather than stripe."

The ugly fruit on the right is a durian, from the Malay meaning "thorn".  It is revered throughout Southeast Asia as the "King of Fruits".  It is mostly described as smelling like pig dung.  More facts:

"Southeast Asian cultivators and connoisseurs will swear that the durian is a fruit without compare. Durian is called King of Fruits in Southeast Asian countries where it is widely abundant. People who have just seen and smell it are immediately turned off by its strong, pungent odor, while for the brave, who manage to taste the fruit itself, the offensiveness of the smell quickly wanes. Some people describe the odor of durian as strong and pervasive that the best hotels refuse to allow their guests to bring durians into their room. But the proof is in the eating, and most people who have tasted it become lifelong addicts."

Along with the alleged "addictive" taste, the health benefits of the durian are pretty remarkable and undeniable.  But the question is, who would want to eat such an ugly, offensive fruit regardless as to how good it may taste after you get passed the sight, smell, and feel of it?  Even if it offers so many health benefits, surely there must be another way to get these same nutrients than to deal with partaking of such an ugly and offensive fruit!

The Cross of Calvary was also such a fruit.  Ugly and offensive; the shame of Christ's nakedness and the weight of guilt of all our sins on his back, the ruthless and vile beating he received on our behalf, the relentless mockery of this "King of Jews" and the world's enjoyment of his torture on a tree.  This ugly and offensive act was and is the only way that you and I can stand blameless before a sovereign God.  And we have been called to participate in this ugly and offensive act daily.  We must deny ourselves and no matter how unpopular or how undesireable to our flesh, we must pick up our cross and walk down the same path that our savior did - straight to Calvary.

The apple above represents the fruit of self; our innate desire to decide right and wrong for ourselves.  When we are left to decide what's right and wrong, we decide the path we can take to knowing God.  The problem is that those paths we choose are relative to our thinking and the reality is they only lead to a god we have created.  It is self-seeking, self-motivated, self-inspired, and self-pleasing.  It is our participation in the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of good and evil (Gen 3:6).  

The durian represents the fruit of the Spirit; the complete surrender and dependence upon God for all things.  God provided his son as an example of the great mystery that we should follow in his God-seeking, God-motivated, God-inspired, God-pleasing steps.  It is the participation in the fruit of the Tree of Life.  A fruit that was for some reason never desired by Adam or Eve, even though it was right next to the Tree of Knowledge and they had full permission to eat of it (Gen 2:9).  So why didn't they?  

The beautiful and fragrant Fulford Gala apple, the ugly and pungent durian - which fruit will choose to eat today?