CLING LIKE A PEACH PIT

Let love be without dissimulation. (hypocrisy)
Abhor that which is evil;
cleave to that which is good.
Romans 12:9

For years, I have loved fresh peaches. I love when they come in season so I can get that fresh peach taste in my mouth again. Canned peaches just don't do it for me. I like fresh peaches in cobbler, in sweet iced tea (a slice or two), in a dish of fresh fruit or just to eat with the juice running down my chin. There are two types of peach I've come to know....freestone and cling. When fully ripe, ready for cutting into, one finds the two types to be very different. A freestone is easy to cut into and the pit inside is easily released. However, with the ripest of cling peaches when cut, the stone actually clings to the fruit, resistant to let go.

A dictionary tells us there are two types of cleaving which are direct opposites in meaning. One definition tells us that cleaving means to cut or sever much like with a meat cleaver. Cleaving can also mean clinging or hanging onto something. Scripture uses the clinging meaning in some verses more than the severing meaning.

In Genesis, we read God's instruction concerning marriage that a man is to leave his own family and cleave to his wife. When I see that word in that context, I think of our recent visit to our son's home. On one occasion, our three year old grandson came up to Brian as he was walking toward the couch to be seated, and he grabbed hold of Brian's leg. Little children do that sort of thing to adults all the time. He had both arms wrapped as tightly around Brian's leg as his strength would allow. Brian walked some with him attached and then the moment was over. Married couples are to cling/cleave to each other for dear life.

Many of our “cleave” verses in Scripture can be found in the book of Deuteronomy. For instance:

Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God;
him shalt thou serve, and to him
shalt thou cleave, and swear by his name.
10:20

For if ye shall diligently keep all these
commandments which I command you,
to do them, to love the Lord your God,
to walk in all his ways, and to cleave
unto Him;
11:22

That thou mayest love the Lord the God,
and that thou mayest obey his voice,
and that thou mayest cleave unto him:
for he is thy life, and the length of thy days.....
30:20 a,b

In the last two verses there is the phrase, “cleave unto Him.” I wonder with what intensity we cleave, cling to our Lord...to His will and ways we see so clearly in God's Word. As much as I love peaches, either freestone or cling, I appreciate that pit in the cling peach that just doesn't want to let go. Like that little boy clinging to his grandpa's leg, do I hang onto my loving Father like that or do I have a loose hold on Him depending on my mood of the moment.

Christians often say that the Bible isn't clear and hard to understand. In the above verses, I don't find it hard to see what is involved in the clinging to God process. In these verses I see we are to:

have a fear of God
serve Him
swear by His name
keep God's commands
love the Lord
walk in His ways
obey His voice

Many of those things overlap but they are things God charges us to do if we are to cleave to Him, clinging for all we're worth. Scripture tells us the result of all of this is that we will find that He is our life. I must ask myself, “Is Jesus my life...am I clinging/cleaving to Him for dear life.” The result will be the sweetest of experiences when we taste and see His goodness.

Father, thank You for how You draw me to Yourself through the wooing of Your Spirit. Forgive my slackness at times in my obedience to You. Help me to cling to You for dear life, for You are that important to me. In Jesus' precious name....Amen