GraceFox

What good is salt that's lost its flavour?

Jesus Christ’s disciples are called to be extraordinary. To rise above the status quo. To be different—in a good and God-honoring way. Sometimes I wonder whether or not we’re doing a good job.

“You are the salt of the earth,” Jesus said. “But what good is salt if it has lost its flavor? Can you make it salty again? It will be thrown out and trampled underfoot as worthless. You are the light of the world—like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand where it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your good deeds shine out for all to see, so that everyone will praise your heavenly Father” (Matthew 5:13-16 NLT).

A friend recently told me a disturbing statistic about teenage girls growing up in Christian homes. “One in four has a sexually transmitted disease,” she said.  What?

If these kids are professing to follow Christ, then sexual purity before marriage ought to be the standard, should it not? Instead, they’re believing society’s lie that sex with whoever is okay and they’re paying the consequences. If they don’t change their ways, how can they offer answers or hope to their peers who are struggling with the same issues?

Believers are heading to divorce court at the same rate as unbelievers. Addiction to pornography rages within evangelical circles. Spousal abuse happens, too, although few want to acknowledge it. How can Christ-followers offer answers if they’re steeped in the same behaviours as countless others around them?

The salt has lost its flavor.

The light on the hill has lost its brilliance.

God’s designed us to be extraordinary. We’re to live in such a way that we whet people’s appetites for truth. We’re to conduct ourselves so that others yearn for the Savior who died to bring mankind life in its fullness.

Let’s be different than the world around us. Not in a haughty way or to draw attention to ourselves, but to cause others to think about God and what relationship with Him looks like. That’s what we’re here for.

Ordinary blends in. Extraordinary stands out. Let’s allow the Holy Spirit to fill and control us so we’re the latter.