Unreligious: Week 2 - Day 1
OPENING PRAYER:
Lord, help me see how I can live a salty lifestyle as I think about the sermon this past Sunday. In his name we pray, Amen.
“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.”
REFLECT:
Salt is essential to our lives which I found out several years ago when I discovered I had a low sodium condition. At first, it didn’t seem important to me until my doctor told me that if my numbers went any lower, I was in danger of having a seizure and he prescribed salt tablets to raise my sodium numbers to a safe level. “Salty living” is as important to the Christian lifestyle as discussed in Sunday’s sermon. Without it, our influence on others could have a negative effect.
William Barclay in his commentary on this Scripture quotes three prominent individuals to illustrate what the impact of saltiness can be. The Emperor Julian (he followed Constantine, who made Christianity the religion of the Roman Empire) wanted to drop Christianity because it took the “vividness” out of life. Oliver Wendell Holmes stated, “I might have entered the ministry if certain clergymen had not looked and acted so much like undertakers.” Finally, Robert Louis Stevenson entered into his diary, “I have been to church today, and am not depressed!” As Christians, are we adding the correct amount of “salt” to positively affect others wanting to follow Christ? D. Martyn Lord-Jones stated, “The Christian is a person who is essentially different from everybody else. He is as different as the salt is from the meat into which it is rubbed.” He also stated, “Just a little salt can affect a great mass. Because of its essential quality it somehow or other permeates everything.” (Studies in the Sermon of the Mount, Eerdmans. Pages 153 and 158)
APPLY:
How does an individual function as salt in the lives of others? A suggestion would be to redirect a conversation that’s going in the wrong direction. Take time this week to think about how you are being salt in the lives of others with whom you come in contact.
CLOSING PRAYER:
God, help me be the salt that is needed in the lives of others so they can have a positive image of what Christian living is. In his name we pray, amen.