Fresh, Genetically Engineered,Gas-Ripened Tomatoes?

Philippians 1:6 -- "Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus."

There is nothing more mouth watering than a freshly made BLT [Bacon, Lettuce, Tomato Sandwich]. In my humble opinion, it's the perfect lunch and can be pared with the home-made soup of your choice. [My favorite combo is a half BLT with a bowl of tomato soup.] There is just something about that beautiful shade of red from a firm, thinly sliced tomato that says hey, I'm a comfort food!

The tomato that you find sitting in a brightly colored mountain of fellow tomatoes in the super-market, however, is not exactly the tomato in it's natural state. Oh, no! Not by a long shot. In order to ship country wide, the common grocery tomato is picked green and then gassed with Ethylene to produce a pretty, uniform red color. And that's not all, to further entice the ever-picky consumer, tomato breeders have come up with a genetically altered hybrid plant that produces fruit of a uniform size and a uniform color. That's right, nine times out of ten when you pick a tomato off the shelf at your favorite grocer, it's a man-engineered fruit that's never been pollinated. I guess that works....but here's a thought;

A tomato from an "heirloom" seed [that means a natural seed from a naturally growing plant that's never been altered] planted in actual dirt and pollinated by bees and butterflies has more nutrients, more natural sugars, and more natural dietary fiber. And while yes, Ethylene is a gas that naturally occurs in most vegetation and is, in fact, the reason a tomato turns red - a plant that is left to ripen naturally is far more healthy for human consumption than is a tomato hosed down with the gas in large quantities in order to speed up or retard the natural growth process. It makes perfect sense to me, leave the thing to do what it's suppose to do, and when it's time to pick the tomato from it's vine/stem,  you'll have a more robust and ready fruit. 

WE are a lot like the commercialized and over-metaled-with tomato. As people growing in the body of Christ, we can't rush into spiritual maturity. It's not possible to hose ourselves down with Ethylene and become instantly brilliant and beautiful. No, our spirit is in need of time, steady natural fertilizer, and those dreaded growing pains. We may be spotted, bright read in places but a tad bit green in others, but to cling to the One True Vine and mature in God's timing is what it's all about. Just like the tomato plant, God's timing is ALWAYS better than our own. Grow in the Word of God and bare fruit in HIS seasons - and we become stronger, steadier, and healthy enough to produce true heirloom seeds. Seeds that will be strong when planted. Seeds that will grow sturdy and healthy plants.

Who REALLY wants to be plucked from the vine before their ready only to sit green in the back of dirty 'ole truck and gassed until we turn read, anyway? I know I don't!