You [God] have set mankind so brief a span of life-months is all you give him! Not one bit longer may he live.

–Job 14:5 TLB

I am a banana expert. I know exactly when a banana is too green, and I also know ‘just the right time’ when it’s ready to be peeled. Who can tolerate a banana that’s gone mushy, covered with brown spots? When I go to the market, I normally buy my bananas hard and green. Then I place the fruit on the kitchen counter and wait for that just-right-time when the color turns a yellow-green. It’s a signal! It’s a sign! And I’m ready to eat the whole bunch.

When the Puritan pastor Richard Cameron was ill and in bed, it was said that he was “ripe for glory.” Reading that statement made me pause and consider. I often say, “Boy, I wish the Lord Jesus would come back soon-I’m ready to leave this wheelchair behind and dance on those streets of gold!” But I’m not in heaven yet, I’m still here on earth. Doesn’t that prove I’m still a green banana, not yet ripe for glory?

And if you are moving and breathing, you’re not ripe, either. You’ve got a ways to go. God has determined the exact number of our days on earth. That means all our days and hours-and even our moments-have meaning and purpose. God has a design, a plan. He waters us with His Word, tills the soil of our heart through trials, sweetens our disposition over time, and ripens our faith. He knows the exact moment when we are no longer green, but ready!

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God has something to finish in you, and until He does, every day is packed with purpose. Ask the Lord to reveal His desire and intentions for the way you live your life over the next twenty-four hours. It’s your chance to ripen.

Fill me, Lord Jesus, with your Holy Spirit, that I might make the choices that please you this day and seize every opportunity you lay at my feet.

Joni Erackson Tada