This is a video we did for a volunteer appreciation banquet last night at the Waco convention center. I am the 'President of ACC'. The video is a little jumpy and 'out of frame' from time to time but you can get the picture easily enough. Enjoy!
Monday, April 28, 2008
Thursday, April 3, 2008
Salt
What’s the deal with salt? Why does the Bible tell us to be the “salt of the earth” or for our words to be “sprinkled with salt”? I think most of us read those verses and scratch our heads, simply reading over them without stopping to think why God chose to use this ubiquitous mineral as a metaphor for our Christian life.
Just think about salt for a moment.
It’s a flavor enhancer. Taste a bit of mashed potatoes without salt and you have a bland white paste. Take butter without salt and you might as well eat a spoonful of Vaseline. Salt has an amazing ability to breath life into the foods we eat, like a black and white photograph suddenly bursting with color.
In this world we are to do the same. If we follow Jesus and His Spirit lives within us we will by nature breathe life into the dark drudgery of human existence. We become a flavor enhancer of life through our words and our attitudes - the way we treat people and deal with difficult situations. We should and must be different than the world around us. To go along with the normal flow of human nature is to lose your saltiness and ultimately your usefulness, beaten down and trampled beneath the feet of man. When we do the same as the world does we do not add to it…we perpetuate the gray blandness and black darkness of sin. But when we go against the grain, becoming ‘other’ in obedience to God He transforms us and uses us to change the world.
This comes primarily through love. Over and over again Jesus tells us to love one another, to love our neighbor as our selves. Love cuts into the heart more than anything in life. If we love as God loves, treating people as God would treat them we become the salt of the earth.
Salt is also a preservative. It halts decay. We don’t often see this use in modern times but up to several decades ago before refrigeration was readily available or affordable people would cure their meats in vats of salt. They could take a chunk of fresh pork and pack it in salt at room temperature and it would be preserved for quite a long period of time. The salt draws out water from the meat and dehydrates the bacteria that would otherwise render the meat a stinking, rotten maggot feast.
Salt slows death.
As believers we have the opportunity to slow the perpetuation of death in the world. Our enemy, the Devil comes to steal kill and destroy and wreaks havoc on nations and people. God has given us the power and authority to reverse these things. We cannot stop the ultimate death of our physical bodies, but we can slow the death divvied out by hell. Again, we do this through love. Being attentive to people’s needs whether the hunger of a homeless man’s stomach or the hunger of an executive’s soul. We set out to meet people’s needs. We reverse death by how we talk. Are our words void of complaint and criticism and full of encouragement and empathy?
It’s a flavor enhancer. Taste a bit of mashed potatoes without salt and you have a bland white paste. Take butter without salt and you might as well eat a spoonful of Vaseline. Salt has an amazing ability to breath life into the foods we eat, like a black and white photograph suddenly bursting with color.
In this world we are to do the same. If we follow Jesus and His Spirit lives within us we will by nature breathe life into the dark drudgery of human existence. We become a flavor enhancer of life through our words and our attitudes - the way we treat people and deal with difficult situations. We should and must be different than the world around us. To go along with the normal flow of human nature is to lose your saltiness and ultimately your usefulness, beaten down and trampled beneath the feet of man. When we do the same as the world does we do not add to it…we perpetuate the gray blandness and black darkness of sin. But when we go against the grain, becoming ‘other’ in obedience to God He transforms us and uses us to change the world.
This comes primarily through love. Over and over again Jesus tells us to love one another, to love our neighbor as our selves. Love cuts into the heart more than anything in life. If we love as God loves, treating people as God would treat them we become the salt of the earth.
Salt is also a preservative. It halts decay. We don’t often see this use in modern times but up to several decades ago before refrigeration was readily available or affordable people would cure their meats in vats of salt. They could take a chunk of fresh pork and pack it in salt at room temperature and it would be preserved for quite a long period of time. The salt draws out water from the meat and dehydrates the bacteria that would otherwise render the meat a stinking, rotten maggot feast.
Salt slows death.
As believers we have the opportunity to slow the perpetuation of death in the world. Our enemy, the Devil comes to steal kill and destroy and wreaks havoc on nations and people. God has given us the power and authority to reverse these things. We cannot stop the ultimate death of our physical bodies, but we can slow the death divvied out by hell. Again, we do this through love. Being attentive to people’s needs whether the hunger of a homeless man’s stomach or the hunger of an executive’s soul. We set out to meet people’s needs. We reverse death by how we talk. Are our words void of complaint and criticism and full of encouragement and empathy?
Most of all we reverse death by sharing the good news...the glorious truth of Jesus Christ!
Lastly, salt is useless and even bitter if it remains by itself. Eat a handful of salt and you’ll choke and spit. It wasn’t meant to be alone…but to be used…to be dispersed. Don’t remain within your “holy huddle” of Christian friends. Enjoy that community and encouragement but then allow God to send you out as a seasoning, as a preservative in a world that desperately needs it.
Lastly, salt is useless and even bitter if it remains by itself. Eat a handful of salt and you’ll choke and spit. It wasn’t meant to be alone…but to be used…to be dispersed. Don’t remain within your “holy huddle” of Christian friends. Enjoy that community and encouragement but then allow God to send you out as a seasoning, as a preservative in a world that desperately needs it.
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