In case you didn’t know this about me, I love bananas!  I love to eat bananas.  I love to put bananas in my cereal.  I love to drink banana smoothies.  And I especially love my wife’s fresh-baked, homemade, banana bread!  You could say I’m bananas for bananas [sorry… couldn’t resist].

But despite my love for bananas, there was a time recently where the last thing I wanted to see was a banana.  Someone gave me a banana and it almost made me vomit.  Why?  BECAUSE IT WAS ROTTEN!

You see, even though I love bananas and would love to be given a banana at any time… I never ever want to receive a rotten one.  And if you give me a rotten one, it might just make me sick.

So no matter how much I might be craving a banana, if the one you have is rotten, PLEASE DON’T GIVE IT TO ME!

Did you know that your life is like a banana?  It is.  The way you live your life every day is like offering God a banana (that’s the fruit of your day so to speak).  And some days, God gets that banana from you and He loves it and savors every bit of it!  But did you know that on some days, it might make Him sick?

You see, God loves it when we pray.  God loves it when we fast.  God loves it when we give.  Those are all great things that have the potential to put a smile on God’s face.  Those are like bananas.

HOWEVER, if you do those things and at the same time neglect the highest law – the law of love – then you will not be making God as happy as you think.  You will still be offering a banana – but a rotten one!  For example:

• If you pray day and night without ceasing and then behave rudely to the waiter in restaurant, that prayer is a rotten banana.

• If you fast all day and then ignore a friend in need, that fasting is a rotten banana.

• If you give all your money to the church and to charity, but then come home and are short tempered with your spouse or your kids, that giving is a rotten banana!!!

“For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”  (Galatians 5:14)

That banana taught me that it isn’t just “what” you offer God, but it’s “how” you offer it.  That could make all the difference in the world.  And if you don’t believe me, just go eat a rotten banana and see for yourself.

What ONE THING can you do today to put a huge smile on God’s face and make Him love your banana offering today?