Salt

In Do Hard Things, they started talking about how we are asked to be the salt of the earth. In biblical times, the salt was what was used to preserve the meat for people to eat. It was rubbed into the meat to slow the process of decay. But the only way to slow the process of decay was to be rubbed into the meat, to be spread out over the decaying flesh. It wasn't done by just the act of being salt, it had to be put to work. It had to be removed from the comfy spot next to all the other salt crystals...it had to be spread out from the others it had spent time with to be useful...we have to be in the world but not of it.

This is pretty counter to what has been done in most churches for a very long time. We only go out to scream at people that they are decaying, we love to yell and "preach" to them all about their decay, but we refuse to infuse ourselves into their lives. We refuse to touch them and mingle, why do that when yelling is so effective? But to really preserve them, it is messy...it takes throwing yourself in...risking touching others who are decaying, and getting some of that decay on you...it is inevitable, when you rub up on decay, it will get on you, and it will be stinky, nasty, death...but you will be bringing that person life, and life more abundant...you will be helping to keep them alive to fulfill their purpose.

It takes a sacrifice...and it takes strength. The next line is a warning: DO NOT LOSE YOUR SALTINESS!!!!! This is the churches job: retain, refresh, renew our saltiness, so that we may go back out into the smelly, stinky, nasty, DYING world and preserve it for the coming of our Savior. We are to be brothers and sisters to the other salt crystals, we are to help them retain their strength for the battle. There will be some who will be overcome by the death all around them, they will be losing their battle to preserve and will actually start decaying themselves. We need to be after them too.

The church is to blame for the state of our country. We haven't been preserving the meat, we have been preaching at it about the hot fire they are about to partake in (the Grill). We haven't been stopping the decay effectively, probably because we have been refusing to go out into it and get ourselves dirty. It's not wearing t-shirts and buttons for the political candidate of the hour...it is not holding signs and rallies to push our agenda...it is not standing out holding a sign to change people's minds. NOT THAT ANY OF THOSE THINGS ARE BAD!!!!! WE ARE TO STAND UP FOR OUR BELIEFS!!!!! BUT...we are to get into lives and change them one at a time...we are to preserve individuals...we are called to people not politics...we pray to God, not to government...we fight the death and decay by jumping into the midst of it and beating the hell out of it...we are called to preserve and save that one single piece of meat because it is vitally important to our God; then once it is preserved, we find the next one to do the same.

Ok, a thought just jumped on me, so it may not fit into the "flow" of this post. If we are battling a SIN we are surely to lose. Satan is the author and authority of all sin, HE IS SIN!!!!! We cannot defeat sin/Satan in this world...God is coming back soon to do that for us. We are to take on the people, they are created by God and have that light somewhere within them...it is a winnable battle. We are salt, we can preserve the meat...but we are not really able to put out the fire. We need to do our job.

This post was supposed to be about salt and light...I kinda got stuck on salt...maybe more on light to come later...maybe not...

Isaac