The Joy of Being Salty

 “You are the salt of the earth.” (Matthew 5:13) 

Jesus said to a group of ex-fishermen on a hillside in a remote corner of the world … and to you, “YOU are the salt of the Earth…”  There is dignity in that declaration. Salt was valuable. A bag of salt was worth more than a man. The Greeks called it theion,” that is. Divine. With that statement Jesus gave life purpose. These words are either comic or cosmic. 

Consider these qualities of salt as they relate to your Christian life.

Salt is pure. This speaks of: honesty, diligence in work, and morality.

It is a summary for purity in speech and conduct. “Let your speech be seasoned with salt.”

Salt is a preservative. Inherent in this teaching is the principle that the world is in a state of continual spiritual decay.  This is apparent in our society. Christians are to help prevent the corruption of literature, public amusement, political life, and commercial life.

There are certain people whose presence inspires goodness.  Every day we are each corrupting or conserving.  We are a wing or a weight.

Meat without life decays. So the world without salt is morally decaying.

Old Proverb: “Salt is a second soul for meat.”  So the Christian is intended to be such an influence in a world tending to moral decay.  By virtue of our nature and role, we find ourselves opposed to moral and spiritual decay.

“The Roman world was laughing when it died,”  wrote one historian.  It was that hoarse and dreadful laughter of having found itself to be a fraud.

Christianity was born smiling and is intended to smile on the world today.  The Greeks used the word for salt as the word for wit and wisdom.  Our faith should enhance our personality.

Joy should result from sins being forgiven.  He has not only promised to “cast all our sins into the deepest sea,” He has even posted a “No Fishing” sign.

Salt makes food palatable. The type Christian faith Christ calls for is a strong, workable, personal faith. Manifest your saltiness or lose it.  Salt stored on moist soil will lose it’s salty effect. Salt from the area of the Dead Sea often acquires a stale or alkaline taste, because of its mixture with Gypsum.  It was used to make roads. It was of no value. Worst than no salt is salt that has lost its savor. It is “cast out.”  Such is “good for nothing.” Consider your Christian life in regard to this. Is it pure, a preservative of Christian values, does it make life palatable? There is dignity in that declaration.  Salt was valuable.  A bag of salt was worth more than a man.  The Greeks called salt “theion,” that is, divine. With that statement Jesus gave life purpose. These words are either comic or cosmic.

We have got to get the salt out of the shaker.  Christianity doesn’t fully function in isolation. We must not only do church work, we must do the work of the church which is to penetrate, saturate, and infiltrate all of society.  If the church does not, it becomes a salty island in an ocean of need.

Consider Your Ways

There are Old Testament experiences not dissimilar from our own from which we can learn. The prophet Haggai records the return of God’s people from 70 years in slavery. For seven decades they have been away from their beloved homeland. Now in anticipation they were returning. Many of the younger ones had never seen their ancestral city. Enthusiasm ran rampant.

Their sense of expectancy and excitement was soon abated. As they neared the city, they were consumed with anticipation. A heartbreaking sight awaited them.  During their absence, the tyrant Nebuchadnezzar had leveled the city of Jerusalem. Desolate waste awaited them as they returned to Jerusalem, “the golden.” The house of God built there by Solomon was only rubble. Out of gratitude for deliverance, they set about in gratitude to express their devotion to God by rebuilding His house. Their ardor and zeal is a model worthy of our best.

However, up north the Samaritans resented their efforts (Ezra 4: 1 – 5). Of their detractors it is eternally recorded in the Word of God that they “tried to discourage the people of Judah. They troubled them in building…” (Ezra 4: 4).  It worked. They discouraged the people to the extent that they stopped work.

With their attention diverted from the will and work of God, they soon began to concentrate on their own selfish interests. Work was stopped on the house of God for sixteen years.

* God challenged His people through His prophet, Haggai, “Is it time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, and this temple to lie in ruins?” (1: 4) 

Haggai was one of the few prophets who was privileged to see the people respond positively to his message. (1:12) 

Their obedience was not jump-started by their own initiative. God was at work in their midst. “The Lord stirred up…the spirit of the whole remnant of the people…” (Vs. 14).

“Consider your ways!” (Haggai 1: 4 & 7). Think about it. Give careful thought to your ways.

* God counseled the people. God’s challenge to His people of that day is applicable to us today: “Consider your ways!” (Haggai 1: 4 & 7). Think about it. Give careful thought to your ways.

* God catalyzed the people. God was at work in their midst. “The Lord stirred up…the spirit of the whole remnant of the people….” (Vs. 14)

* God consoled the people. “‘Be strong, all you people of the land,’ says the Lord, ‘and work; for I am with you,’ says the Lord of hosts.”  (2:4)

When we do God’s will, He works with us. He endorses and gives enabling strength for our good resolve.

How to Face Fear Faithfully

Do not fear, for I am with you;
Do not be afraid, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you, I will also help you,
I will also uphold you with My righteous right hand.
Isaiah 41:10

Eighty times in the Bible God says to His people, “Fear not.” To this day some seem not to have received the message. Or having received it, they appear to argue with it with such lines as, “But God, you don’t understand how bad things are.” Or, “God, things are worse than they have ever been!” We often inventory the difficulties for God. Reality would snatch us up by the nape of the neck and remind us of the line, “Without faith it is impossible to please God” (Heb. 11: 6).

Now our text, Isaiah 41:10 – – –

* The Rational

When this was written Cyrus had enjoyed an unprecedented victory over God’s people and precipitated turbulence over the land by imposing his laws which were contrary to the laws of God. Sound familiar?

Isaiah records the Lord as having said . . .

* Do not be afraid.

Fear paralyzes reason. Bible knowledge is the antidote to fear.

Faith works against such obstacles as:

1) past failures, 2) present difficulties, 3) the silence of God.

Three times “fear not” appears in our brief text. Great honor belongs to all to whom God spoke these words. If you are one of His children, that means you.

The expression “fear not” indicates God wants you to live on terms of personal intimacy with Him.

* Don’t be dismayed.

The word dismayed refers to a sudden complete loss of courage, to become utterly disheartened. When the text says, “Don’t be dismayed” it simply means, “Don’t give up and quit.” Does that sound like your current address? Are you living at the corner of “Give Up” and “ I Quit” streets?

The resources:

* I am with you.

It is exciting to think God never takes His mind off you. 

* I am your God.

Let God be God.  If He is the loving God scripture asserts Him to be, and which the experience of many of us confirms Him to be, then He has a purpose in what He is allowing in our life. Faith is confidence in His character.

* I will strengthen you.

This is not a reference simply to natural strength, but to Supernatural. He enhances our ability and increases our capacity.

* I will help you.

After strengthening us, He additionally comes to help us.

Now it is up to you to apply these resources and move to “I Believe” street.

Faith Overcomes the Fear Factor

Read Hebrews 11:1 & 6

Jesus has inspired faith and incited holy boldness in the lives of countless heroes of the faith.  Today He invites you to join their ranks.

His invitation to “Take up your cross and follow Me” is an invitation to enter on the path of exciting service and walk it by faith and not by sight.

If you want exemption from boredom and immunity for a mundane life, then unreservedly accept His invitation. The Bible is replete with examples of individuals who took God at His word and obeyed. You see, whatever else faith is, it is obedience to the Word of God.

Perhaps the late Dean W. R. Inge put his finger of indictment on us when he wrote: “Christianity is a creed for heroes and we are harmless, good-natured little people who want everybody to have a good time.”

Are you ready, spiritually prepared that is, that if we were to be entering a time more difficult than ever now in America you have spiritual resources to sustain you? Hopefully that will never happen, but what if? Do two things to bolster your life. One, practice not feeling sorry for yourself and don’t complain about little hangnail problems. Develop a positive vocabulary. Learn how to find the good amid the bad.

Second, study, memorize, and apply scriptural principles in interpreting the events of life. “Study, show yourself approved….” This takes time.

Doubt is an attack on God’s character. 

Faith is mere confidence in God’s character. It is simply belief that God means what He says and will do what He promises.

Belief and trust are two words used frequently in Scripture to identify how we should respond to the Lord.

One Hebrew word for believe is AMEN. It means “to use God as a foundation; to lean on Him.”

The word for “trust” is BATAK. It was originally a wrestling term meaning to “body-slam” an opponent. Applied to our faith life, it means to pick up your problems and body-slam them before the Lord.

Who have you been pleasing? Yourself? A peer group? I invite you to come on a venture with me and resolve no longer to be a marginal, rootless person.

“Faith is the substance of things hoped for…” Only when we respond to this creed like our heroes before us with faith does Christianity become for us, and those who observe us, a mighty force which gives dynamic radiance to life.

Hebrews 11: 1 says, “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Then this theme is continued in verse 6, “Without faith it is impossible to please Him…”

I am including in this post with the following poem I learned while in college with the prayer it might be helpful to you, and worthy of your memorization.

“God hath not promised skies always blue,
Flower-strewn pathways all our lives through;
God hath not promised sun without rain,
Joy without sorrow, peace without pain.

God hath not promised we shall not know
Toil and temptation, trouble and woe;
He hath not told us we shall not bear
Many a burden, many a care.

God hath not promised smooth roads and wide,
Swift, easy travel, needing no guide;
Never a mountain, rocky and steep,
Never a river, turbid and deep.

But God hath promised strength for the day,
Rest for the labor, light for the way,
Grace for the trials, help from above,
Unfailing sympathy, undying love.”

What and How to Hate…to Hate?

Proverbs 30:11-16

Jesus saw a crippled man in the midst of a group of religious leaders and watched their reaction which Mark described as “hardness of their hearts.” Then it is said of Jesus that He “looked around at them with anger.” (Mark 3:5)  Jesus, angry? Yes! The Greek word translated “anger” is “orge.” It speaks of a controlled displeasure, resentment,  and indignation. The New Testament urges all believers to “be angry and sin not.” (Ephesians 4:26)  But at WHAT and HOW?

The wisdom book of Proverbs gives us four characteristics that should arouse the anger of a believer and cause hate.  Remember the Bible says about HOW to hate. In Proverbs 30 the expression “There is a generation,” literally means, there is a class of people. In every generation there have been classes of people who meet these standards. Four behaviors are abhorrent to God and should be hated by us.

A SPIRIT OF ANARCHY – Vs. 11  (Rebellion)

Anarchy means rebellion. It can happen on a national scale or within a family. Where there are children who curse their father and do not bless their mother, a spirit of anarchy, that is, rebellion prevails.

A SHOW OF ACCEPTABILITY – Vs. 12  (Hypocrisy)

Self-righteousness and hypocrisy are unacceptable to God. 

No person does worse things than those who are right in their own eyes. None are further from righteousness than those who are righteous in their own eyes. 

A STATE OF ARROGANCE – Vs. 13  (Pride)

“These persons are characterized as having uplifted eyes and raised eyebrows.”  This speaks of false pride and arrogance. They are self-centered egotists.

A SENSE OF AVARICE –  Vs. 14  (Greed)

This verse describes the viciousness of those who are preoccupied with money. They will destroy others and themselves to get it.

God is said to “Hate all the workers of iniquity.” (Psalm 5:5)

The Psalmist aligned himself with God in hate: “Do I not hate them, O Lord, who hate You? And do I not loathe those who rise up against You? I hate them with a perfect hatred; I count them my enemies.” (Psalms 139: 21, 22)

“Perfect hate” involves resistance to all who hate that which is good by God’s standard. Just as it is our duty to love all people, so it is our duty to hate all opposition to God and His will. To hate a person for his own sake is wrong, but to hate all forms of opposition to God’s will and Word is “perfect hate.”

Now, go back and read the above definition of how to hate.