Are You A Mushy Pumpkin?

1 Peter 3:3-4

Do not let your adorning be external–the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear–but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God’s sight is very precious.

A month and a half ago somebody gave me a pumpkin and I’ve had it sitting on my kitchen table since then. It’s looked really nice the whole time! Very orange and round like a good little pumpkin, so I didn’t want to part with it. However, when I got back from Thanksgiving break I decided that it was time for the pumpkin to go. So I decided I’d pick it up and take it out to the dumpster. What I expected was to pick up the nice solid pumpkin and carry it outside nice and easy. What I did NOT expect was to start picking it up and have my fingers sink into the pumpkin as if it was going to fall apart in my hands. Well…the unexpected happened, and I was completely disgusted! I ended up taking a trash bag and picking it up with the trash bag so that I didn’t have to touch it anymore. I threw it in the dumpster and then promptly washed my hands.

Oftentimes, we act like this pumpkin. We look pretty and normal on the outside, but inside we’re slowly rotting away. As long as nothing happens we’re fine, but the moment pressure is applied to our lives we just about fall apart and everybody knows how disgusting our heart really is. The pumpkin looked nice as a decoration, but it was completely useless for any other purpose such as baking a pumpkin pie.  Likewise, if we aren’t keeping our heart healthy we may be a pretty pew decoration at church on Sunday, but we are completely useless for edifying others.

Don’t be a mushy pumpkin. God wants your heart to glorify him, so focus on your inner beauty and be more than just a nice-looking decoration.