dennis j adams

“You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet. (Matthew 5:13 ESV)

Salt is an interesting comparison in the Word of God to our responsibility to impact society. Jesus brought this analogy to His disciples to impress upon them the importance of not loosing your identity to the world but too keep the primary identity with Christ Jesus. The sense of loss in our approach to share the gospel is an awaking experience. Christians are living epistles and walking advertisements of God’s love and His apparent grace. The loss of evangelism in the Church has caused a replication of this statement to become fresh and a surety that we need renewal in our love for God. Can salt gain it flavor again. Not really, unless there is an infusion of a byproduct to bring out a flavor like salt. This is not palpable in essence to the approach Jesus was taking in His direct statement in the Word. The mere thought of loosing that intensity of God’s love and the in turn the power driven love for God is certainly enough to realize that in that condition no one could be able to evangelize with a sting or bring change to a lost person.

Living the Christian life is an every day experience that builds on the maturity and nurturing of discipleship. The goal is to become mature and perfected into the fullness and stature of Christ. (Ephesians 4:12-13) Growing in grace and increasing faith will keep the Church “salty” in a world that certainly needs seasoning form God. There are many different kinds of salt on and in this earth. Each one has a distinct flavor but all have the same sting that will bring change to what it is applied to. Remaining in the presence of God through prayer and fasting will keep anyone sharp and ready to be poured out as a seasoning of salt that will bring change. The one testimony that should never be on the list of a Christian is that they are unable to be used because they have lost the distinct quality of their relationship with God. Can a Christian be restored and renewed into the Kingdom of God? Yes, and that is the miracle of transformation. Being transformed into the likeness and image of Jesus Christ. (2 Corinthians 3:18) The reason the Christian must stay in fellowship with God is to be able to be transformed by the renewing of their mind so that they can prove what is the good and perfect will of God. (Romans 12:2)

Moving in the spirit of evangelism and maintaining a personal goal to reach out to the lost is vastly important to the growth of the Kingdom of God. If though, a person has lost the quality of whom they represent, that is, Jesus Christ, then what good can they do? The saint must have the same mind as Christ Jesus and same desire to die to self that others may be raised up in the spirit of renewal. (Philippians 2:5-8) The greatest destroyer of the savoriness of salt is when the “self” gets in the way and keeps the Spirit of the Lord at bay. Stay fresh in the Lord and continue to be “salty” in this world. Being trampled under the feet of people is not God’s plan for you or evangelism.

Dennis

Remember prayer moves the Hand of God.