One of my family’s favorite summertime snacks is watermelon. Now that summer is officially here, it’s back to being a staple snack in our home. Recently, on one of those hot summer days, I went to the grocery store and picked up a whole watermelon. I returned home and began to cut it into bite-sized chunks to be stored in the fridge for quick and easy access.

As I cut the fruit from the rind, my daughters came over to watch. They were somewhat fascinated with the process and looked on with curiosity as I was able to make a few quick slices before making the final cut that caused the fruit to fall away from the rind in small pieces. Every time I made that final cut, I dropped the fruit into our big red bowl and set the rind off to the side to be thrown away.

After doing this a few times the pile of discarded rind was growing. I asked one of the girls to throw it away to make space on the counter. In the process, she noticed a narrow sliver of good fruit was still on the rind. She decided she could not let that stand. So, before throwing the refuse into the trash can, she would sort of chew on the rind to scrape out the remaining bits of fruit. In the process, a couple of things happened. One, she got watermelon juice all over her face. This juice eventually made its way onto the counter taking our small, concentrated mess and spreading it to the far reaches of the kitchen island. Second, she ended up going a little deep a few times and got to taste some bitter parts of the rind.

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While I admired her attempts to avoid waste, I noticed something interesting. She was chewing for scraps while there was a big red bowl full of delicious fruit right in front of her. At any time in the process, she could have eaten that sweet, juicy, and delicious watermelon right out of the bowl. She didn’t have to strive for it, she didn’t have to search for it, and she didn’t have to risk tasting the bitterness of the rind. The good fruit was right there, fully accessible at any time.

As I watched this scene play out, I wondered if we can act the same way when it comes to a relationship with Jesus. We have been invited to the table. He has done the preparation and He’s provided us with everything we need. He’s done the work to give us life and life to the fullest. He has made a way for us to experience a full, fulfilled, and fruitful life in relationship with Him. And yet, instead of taking what he has lovingly provided, we often rely on our own strength and dig through the scraps looking for the tiniest morsel of what we have mistaken for happiness, satisfaction, or fulfillment. We constantly seek to do things our own way, to produce results through our own effort, and we end up celebrating a pile of garbage as if it’s the greatest thing the world has ever seen.

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When I find myself in this situation, it helps me to remember Jesus’s words in Matthew 11. He invites us to “Come to [Jesus], all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Jesus has what we need in full measure. Want an abundant life? Come to Jesus. Want to experience true joy? Come to Jesus. Want to have peace in the midst of hardship? Come to Jesus. The invitation is open. And unlike my big red bowl of watermelon, this source never runs dry.

At the end of the day, my kids were chewing this rind because they didn’t know the watermelon was for them right then. They thought they had to wait for the right moment as if I was preparing it for a specific occasion like a special meal or a party. But like that watermelon, the invitation is open. You don’t have to wait for a special moment. You don’t have to prepare yourself. You don’t need permission. You just need to come to Him. No matter where you are or what your circumstances are, you just need to come. If you wandered, come back. If you’ve never come to Him, take that step. He is ready and waiting to receive you with open arms.

If you don’t know what I mean by “come to Jesus,” I’d love to have a conversation with you. Send me an email at brandon@brandonhair.me. I’d love to connect with you and talk to you about what life with Jesus is all about.