Knowing that I like hot foods and peppers, my son challenged me one day: “Dad – I’m going to send you a scorching hot ghost pepper my friend grew in his garden. Take a video of you eating it and send it to me!” Not always the ‘sharpest knife in the drawer,’ nor one to back down from a challenge quickly, I replied, “Sure, son – bring it on!”

The day of the digestive inferno to be recorded for posterity finally came. Gingerly unwrapping the package and removing the potent fellow from its baggy with plastic-covered hands, I steeled myself for pain. Then, just when the little bugger was about to fly down the hatch, I thought, “Hey! What if I cut a little piece off the end first and taste it to see just how hot this thing is?” Emboldened by the epiphany, I chopped off an ever-so-slightly visible end and stuck it in my mouth, again, anticipating pain.

And then . . . nothing. The thing was a dud. But my son didn’t know that! So, I turned on the recorder and filmed myself bravely munching and swallowing the supposed death-pepper. My son and his friend were astonished, and I was once again the hero of the day—that is until I finally manned up and told them the truth, that the pepper was a fraud. A fake. A phony. A faux pepper. A decidedly dead dud of a dangling wanna-be. The experience did make me wonder, though, how this could happen.

As it turns out, cool peppers may be caused by a “combination of improper soil and site situations, variety, or even poor cultivation practices” (https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/edible/vegetables/pepper/chili-peppers-not-hot.htm). In other words, my son’s friend didn’t know what he was doing (lucky for me!). Believe it or not, there’s a good lesson here for those of us who desire to be disciples of Jesus and repeat the process in others.

Jesus taught us that good soil is critical for accepting the gospel of God’s Kingdom and growing in faith and spirit (Matthew 13:1-9 & 18-23). And without the root of the Holy Spirit, there can be no fruit (Matthew 13:20-21; Galatians 5:16-26). A fruitless, actionless faith will bring spiritual death (James 2:14-26).

So, what’s my point? The dud-of-a-ghost pepper was fruitless and impotent because it had a bad start and improper care and feeding. So likewise, we can be fruitless self-proclaimed Christians headed for spiritual death without the good soil of God’s Kingdom brought by word and deed, the Spirit of God to keep us grounded, and discipleship to aid in our growth. Next week, we’ll check out how to effectively deal with temptation before it becomes rebellion or death.

Blessings and peace,

Ron Braley