Saltiness
by Andrew Tissingh
I’m sure many of us have been in this situation: Dinnertime, a lovely meal has been prepared and we are eager to get stuck in. All we need is the final touch to make it perfect – a pinch of salt. That bit of seasoning which brings the meal to life!
But as is all too common the salt won’t come out of the shaker. The salt has got damp and the shaker holes are clogged up. The steam from the food we have eaten over the last few weeks has risen and dampened the salt, rendering it useless. The salt has lost its effectiveness in bringing food to life.
What about us? Has our environment polluted us? Have we been influenced by the world we are meant to be seasoning and bringing life to? Have we become useless? We are called to season the earth with Christ’s love, which brings life.
My mother always told me to put rice in with the salt and it will absorb the moisture from the salt, keeping it fresh and shakeable. It then remains useful and effective again in bringing food to life.
How can we keep our flavour, or rather the flavour of Christ in us? How can we be effective in seasoning the world around us?
1) We must first remove any moisture that is in us - the ungodly influence of the world, the lies of the enemy.
2) We must mix some spiritual rice with our God-given saltiness. The Word of God must be an integral part of our human shaker. It exposes the darkness in and around us, keeping us fresh and shakeable.
3) We must position ourselves in the right place to be shaken by God. If we hide in the cupboard for fear of being influenced by the world we can’t be used either. We will lose our saltiness.
4) We must fix our eyes on Jesus, not on earthly things that will distract us from where we are meant to be, seasoning His love.
5) We must, above all, love the Lord with all our heart, mind and strength, and love our neighbour. We are seasoning the world with His love, which flows from within us. Keep love as your primary goal and you won’t get clogged up, but love will continually flow freely into the world around you.
Prayer: Lord Jesus, thank You that You first loved me. Please reveal those things of the world that have influenced me wrongly and made me lose my flavour of You. I choose to be influenced by You alone, and I desire to be used by You to flavour this world with Your love. Amen.
Andrew Tissingh grew up as a missionary kid in northern Africa. He moved to the UK in 2004, where he worked with London inner city youth for six years. He and his wife did the 9 week school at Ellel Grange in 2011, and stayed on to serve. Andrew has a heart to disciple young people, and in particular to see people’s lives changed by practically applying truth.
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