First off, "No, I'm not talking about the song by the Ying Yang Twins!" I pray that Jesus forgives me if I ever stoop so low as to take my mind off Him long enough to indulge in such lyrics. What I'm talking about is us, we who call ourselves Christians, shaking our salt all over the earth, like Jesus instructed us to do in Matthew 5:13 Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savor, wherewith shall it be salted? It is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men. Why can't we work on not losing our savor? How can we season the meat of non-Christians, when we are so putrid ourselves? Why would anyone want to mimic our spoiled meat? Notice how I use the words "us", "we", and "our"; I do this because I am including myself in the equation. I'm not pointing any fingers at the reader; I would like for all of us Christians to take heed of what I'm saying!
Secondly, I ask the reader to forgive me if I get off track of the subject matter. Sometimes (well the truth is, most times) my mind goes faster than I can I type, so I may jump from one subject to the next before I realize it. The subject is behavior of Christians amongst each other, in case you couldn't discern it from the title.
I'm really sick and tired of us allowing the enemy to use us against each other to prove himself right! What makes it so bad, is that even once we realize what the enemy has done, we continue to perpetuate his cause by holding grudges against one another, and refusing to forgive and forget like the Bible teaches us to do in Ephesians 4:32 And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.
I find it very difficult to understand why we treat each other as though we are the enemy! The enemy is Satan, not your husband or wife, not your teacher or employer, not your sister or brother, not your friend or neighbor! Let's stop taking out our frustrations and blaming each other for what we have allowed the enemy to control … our emotions. For far too long, we have lost our tempers with one another, and have kept grudges and have refused to be Christ-like, because we thought we were right and the other person was wrong. So what, if we are the one who is right! The Christian thing to do is to forgive the other person and apologize for any un-Christian behavior that we indulged in. I know, you're thinking this is easier said than done, but it is easier done if we learn to kill our flesh and stop being so selfish as to think that we are always the one who is right! Maybe, just maybe, we are really the one who is wrong. Oh, heaven forbid, he hurt your feelings! Or maybe he hurt you physically! You could never forgive someone for doing you that wrong, could you? He has to be punished, right? Wrong … at least not by you! Romans 12:19 says for us to, Avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.
The Lord says that vengeance is His. Are you bigger than Him? The answer is NO in case you are now speechless. We are not the ones who should do the punishing! We are not "Holier than thou!" We are to submit to the will of God and let Him do the punishing. Don't worry, that person who hurt you will get his, so don't you end up in hell, because of your bitterness. Ephesians 4:31 teaches us that we should, Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamor, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice. And Hebrews 12:14 tells us to, Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord.
So let's do just that … put away all bitterness … and follow peace and holiness with one another. Grudges just make your heart cold and hard. It's easy to call yourself a Christian, but can we really season unseasoned meat if we merely ride the church bench on Sundays then get in the parking lot and give someone the finger because they cut in front of us?
We are supposed to be the salt of the earth and leave a good taste in the mouths of others. Most non-Christians can point fingers at us, because we refuse to do the things that we know are the right things to do as Christians. We have lost our saltiness! Let's get salty again. Especially as ministers of the Gospel, let's show others, by example, how to Shake It Like A Salt Shaker! Let's not be mere Christians, which is nowadays a fad in itself. Let's be Disciples of Christ and shake our salt all over each other, and teach those with little flavor how to be salty! With that in mind, if there's anyone out there that I've been rude with or have shown un-Christ-like behavior to … please accept my apology and forgive me for leaving a bad taste in your mouth. My true desire in life is to be a mirror image of Jesus, so that when others see me or hear me speak or read what spills over from my heart, they don't see me … they see Jesus. True salt loses itself in the meat it seasons, and becomes a vital part of that meat's flavor. My prayer is that your meat becomes flavored with my salt. Amen?