Cool Whip

 "Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure..." (Philippians 4:8)

I recently found out that I have a food intolerance to apples. It didn't bother me at first since I'm not a big apple fan in the first place. Waldorf salad excluded. But then again that's essentially Cool Whip with something crunchy in it. Being intolerant to apples is like telling a kid. "Hey, I think you have a food sensitivity to spinach, goat cheese, and sauerkraut." Yeah!!!!! 

But then I began looking at all of things that contain apple juice. Is there anything that doesn't contain apple juice. My multivitamin gummies contain...yes, you guessed it: apple juice. Candy, cereal, breakfast bars...basically anything that needs a natural sugar. My cranberry juice was more apple than cranberry. I began looking at even things like my toothpaste. Whew! No apples, only small microbits of plastic as abrasives. But, hey, no apple products. 

Added to this difficulty, I'm apparently intolerant of eggs. Do you know how many foods contain egg in them? I'm guessing a billion. I bet eggs have apple juice in them. 

All I know is that you have to look carefully at things that say, "Contains pure..." It might contain pure something, but it most likely has "and natural flavoring." That means apples and eggs. 

In this tainted, mixed up world, I thought to myself, "What am I going to focus on that is pure?" 

In a few chapters back, the Apostle Paul tells his readers to be "blameless and pure, children of God in a warped and crooked generation." He told young Timothy to "not share in the sins of others. Keep yourself pure." And, "the outflow of love comes out of a pure heart." 

I'm thinking that Paul wants me to think about things that are not tainted or mixed up with worldly influence or passion. Jesus' brother, James, said it was to think on things not polluted by the world. Not an easy task. Seriously. What things in this world have not been in some way tainted? Everything has apples or eggs. Distilled water? (That comes in a toxic plastic container). 

Once again I find that the Bible tells me that "it" is pure. And that actions stemming from it are pure like taking care of widows and orphans and aliens/strangers. Jesus, of course, was pure in heart, in speech, in life. I'll focus on Him. The Bible also tells me that I am heading to a place where the city is made of pure gold, pure as translucent glass, where the streets are gold, the purest gold. 

The Bible. Jesus. The future New Jerusalem. "Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure...think on these things." 

Everything else needs a little Cool-Whip.