Monday, July 13, 2015

The Salty Christian

It's tomato season, so for me, that mean's it's salty season.  Give me a good tomato and a salt shaker and I could eat it like an apple.  A bowl of cherry tomatoes are like candy to me.  My husband still finds this ridiculous seeing as 9/10 when ordering a salad, I request no tomatoes.  
It's all about the salt babe.
In Matthew 5 we see Jesus saying something very similar-it's all about the salt.


"You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.  (Matthew 5:13)

If you read the verses leading up to this verse you might be a little confused, seeing as after He goes through the Sermon on the Mount and wraps up with explaining persecution that we will undoubtedly face, He goes on to call us something we sprinkle on tomatoes. (or at least some of us).

Here's the thing about salt though

Salt preserves.
As Christians we're living in a different society than we might feel comfortable with.  This world around us?  They don't look like us, act like us, and we sure don't agree with them.  It's enough to make us want to just go back to bed most days and hide away.  BUT Jesus said no-go into that corrupted world.  Don't you know?  Salt preserves.  When something is rotten, you can always apply salt to make it good again.
Be the salt.

Salt flavors.
Sometimes Christians get a bad rap for being boring and ho-drum.  I wish non-believers knew that wasn't part of the deal.  In fact, just the opposite is true.  Living sold out for Jesus is the biggest blast and we ought to be the funnest people around.  Sometimes, usually when I've done something dumb and am trying not to laugh at myself, my man will come up behind me and wrap me up in his arms and say, baby you're just so fun.  I never knew if he means it or is trying not to laugh at me, but either way that should be us.  Let the world look at us and say, they are just so fun that I want whatever it is they've got.  After all, we should be fun-we've got hope now, we've got a future hope, we've got power, we've been redeemed for pete's sake.  Salt is what makes the blandest things taste good.
Be the salt.

Salt heals.
In the days this scripture was written there were no local pharmacies down the street when you got hurt.  Most often how wounds were treated?  Pour salt in them.  That should be us ya'll.  When we get face to face with suffering it's so tempting to turn the other way, but we are called to the ministry of reconciliation.  To look into the eyes of suffering and pour your life into them.  To be the anesthesia to someone while God performs the spiritual surgery in their life to remove the "junk".  After all, salt doesn't do any good on the shelf.
Be the salt.

Salt creates thirst.
The truth is we're all broken.  I was never worthy of Jesus' touch either.  But along the way I ran into a salty Christian that made me want what they had.  They made me thirsty.  It wasn't because we agreed on every ground or were of the same political party.  It was because the power of Jesus was all over their life and it was so obvious and so blatant that I didn't know what it was, all I knew was that I wanted that too.  Is their anyone thirsty in your life because of Jesus in you?

11 comments:

  1. Stephanie, I absolutely love this! I love how you grabbed everyones attention with a visual story about salt and tomatoes, and then break down the different ways that salt is useful!! Perfectly written! I will never forget this and plan ton share this with my high school girls life group! :-) I love that you shared this on Making Memories Mondays! It made my day to see you there! :-)
    Cathy@threekidsandafish{dot}com

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    1. I am featuring this on the week's Making Memories Mondays going on now!! :-)

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    2. I am featuring this on the week's Making Memories Mondays going on now!! :-)

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    3. Cathy, I'm so glad you enjoyed and hope your life group did too! Thank you so much for the fun party and for featuring it! I appreciate it so much!

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  2. Of course I couldn't stop reading after seeing you love salted tomatoes too! What a great way to tie this together...great read!

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  3. This is so good! I love how you wrote it- so true. I often forget the importance of being the salt! So glad I found your blog today!

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  4. I enjoy your lightheartedness in writing! It is contagious! There ya go being salty! ;-)

    I loved your insights about the different applications of salt and how that translates to the Christian life.

    Thanks so much for sharing. I enjoyed my visit!

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