Sealing the Deal

There are certain seasonal rituals in which most American families participate - vacations during the summer, Thanksgiving dinner and holiday shopping during the fall, Christmas and watching the Super Bowl during the winter, and mailing in tax returns during the spring.  Taxes!  I wouldn't look forward to springtime if it weren't for warmer weather, flowers, and the celebration of Jesus' rising from the dead on Easter Sunday.  Paying taxes usually means collecting a folder that bulges with various receipts and tax-related documents, meeting with the accountant, writing a check to the accountant, receiving the prepared tax returns at the last minute, trying to explain to my wife why we pay so much in taxes, and finally mailing the tax returns.  

The final moments before I actually mail the returns tend to be painfully tedious.  I check the prepared forms, sign and date the forms, enter my Social Security number, and ask my wife to sign and date the forms.  I then enter my wife's Social Security number (I have done this so many times that I have memorized her number), pull out the checkbook, fill in the check amounts and double-check for errors (I rarely write such large checks, so it is a big deal), sign the checks, fill in other necessary details on the checks, find the mailing addresses for the returns, make sure that the forms and checks are in the proper envelopes, seal the envelopes, and hand carry the documents to the post office to have them sent by certified mail.  It is a meticulous process, and I insist on performing the task in a fixed order.

I did not always attend to such detail during my younger tax-paying years, and occasionally I would discover that either the check or a certain form was left out of the envelope after it was sealed.  If I caught my error in time, I would try to unseal the envelope as carefully as possible, and in most cases I would succeed in reopening the envelope without totally destroying it.  However, the reopening process would invariably leave small tears and wrinkles in the envelope flap, and it would have to eventually be resealed with additional glue and tape.

Mailing tax forms made me think about sex.

I'm not kidding.  When God established the institution of marriage, it was meant to bring a man and a woman to leave their parents and be joined in an irrevocable bond.  Sexual relations between the newly formed couple would consummate the marriage, so that they are bound as one and not to be separated in the relationship.  Sex is the glue that seals the deal, just as licking the envelope flap and pressing it down seals the envelope.  It is not meant to be undone, and attempts to sever the relationship, no matter how carefully, will cause irreparable tears and scars.

Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.  (1 Corinthians 6:18-20)

The apostle Paul did not specify in his letter the definition of "sexual immorality", but it is reasonable to say that any sex that is not between a husband and wife may qualify the definition.

May we heed King Solomon's advice:

I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem,

by the gazelles or the does of the field,

that you not stir up or awaken love

until it pleases.  (Song of Solomon 2:7)

Barks, Leaves and Fruit

Chuck and I became good friends while we attended medical school in the late 1980's.  Chuck had a somewhat distinctive appearance - tall, slender, wearing an easy smile, with brown hair, very light complexion and no freckles.  It turned out that he was part Cherokee Indian, and that his father, an aficionado of the great outdoors, taught him much about plant and animal life during his youth while growing up in Ohio.  Chuck once told me that his father taught him to recognize a variety of tree species by simply looking at the bark.  Needless to say, I was impressed by his professed skills of arbor identification, as I normally would only be able to identify a tree if there was a plaque or sign with the name of the tree species in front of it.  However, I eventually managed to improve my tree knowledge over the years, and now I can fairly confidently recognize an oak from a sycamore, or a mesquite from a palo verde.  It's not much to brag about, since most Cub Scouts probably can do the same.

On the other hand, I have no trouble identifying citrus plants.  Having lived nearly my entire life in Taiwan and Southern California, where warm weather and abundant sunshine provide fabulous citrus growing conditions, it is unusual for me to live for even a day without some citrus exposure.  We have navel oranges and lemons in the refrigerator, large, juicy pomelos (massive, grapefruit-like monstrosities with very thick rind) on the kitchen counter, a bag of mandarin oranges in a basket, a grapefruit tree in the backyard that is full of fruit, and a kumquat tree at my mother's house.  I can recognize Valencia oranges, Texas oranges, lemons, limes, tangerines, tangelos, and clementines.  If you show me a citrus tree, I'll immediately recognize the characteristic shape of the broad, dark green, waxy leaves, and know for certain that it is a citrus tree. 

Unfortunately, if the tree is not bearing fruit, I will not be able to tell whether it is a lemon tree, an orange tree, or a grapefruit tree, because their leaves are indistinguishable from one another.  It is by the fruit that the tree is recognized.

Just as it is impossible to discern a citrus tree without seeing its fruit, it is difficult to know a person without seeing his works and deeds.  A surgeon is good only if he has performed many surgeries successfully, and that his patients are happy with the results.  An honest looking person may simply be an expert in deception unless he also acts with integrity, even when it appears that no one is watching.  In the same way, one cannot claim to be a "born again" Christian without somehow demonstrating radical changes in thought, words and actions. We may fool others for a season, but our fruit will eventually betray our identity.

“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.  (Matthew 7:15-20)

You can't judge a fruit tree by its leaves alone.