The past few days have been a blessing as
Kathy's schedule has permitted her to come for
a walk with Genni the wonder dog and I.
There's still lots of ice around so we have
been walking when the temperatures are above
freezing and it's relatively safe to go.
Lots of people have salted their sidewalks,
which has helped their sidewalk, but doesn't
help the main sidewalks or pathways any. As I
noticed the salted walkways, I was reminded of
my friend Dave Glasser. Dave is a pastor and
church planter and it was his preaching and
teaching that the opened my heart and brought
me to Christ. Dave and his family are back
home in the US planting yet another church.
Dave's favourite Bible verses (at least I
think there his favourites, because we heard
them from the pulpit often) were:
"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 by men.
"You are the light of the world. A city
on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do
people light a lamp and put it under a bowl.
Instead they put it on its stand, and it
gives light to everyone in the house. In the
same way, let your light shine before men,
that they may see your good deeds and praise
your Father in heaven. Matthew 5:13-16
NIV
The salt that lost its saltiness and was
thrown out to be trampled is like the salts
now used to melt snow.
Salt is pretty amazing stuff. It adds
flavour to foods. It's used as a preservative.
Once thing it can't do is restore food that
has already begun to do rot.
I thought about that last fact and realized
that it gives us great freedom to be the salt
and light of the world. You see we can direct
people to Jesus, but since they're already
dead in their sin and decaying, we can't undo
the process. Only God Himself can restore the
dead.
We're not responsible for the results. God
is. That means we can do what Christ has told
us to do in sharing Him with others but we
don't have to be under the pressure of
actually causing someone to be born again. We
can lead them, we can pray with them, but God
alone can change their hearts.
You can't force a person to become
Christian, they must do so of their own
changed hearts. That's why the medieval
Crusades may have been committed by the church
but could never have been of God. That's why
emotional manipulation to get someone to
accept Jesus doesn't result in lasting
conversion, because it wasn't real to start
with.
That means we can be bold and honest. We
can love people, we can share the gospel with
them freely and not feel pressure to get
"results". We simply do our part and leave the
rest to God.
Until next time, may you be free to be the
salt and light in a dark and dying world as
Jesus called you to be.
Be blessed
Hallelu Yah (Praise God)!
Kevin
