All right, would you take God's Word with me and turn to Matthew chapter 5.
Matthew chapter 5, we'll read from verses 13 down through verse 16.
I want to take the time while you're turning to thank Greg Cox for filling in for Jared Adams,
a regular minister of music, while he is out of town, and also the choir and Linda and June
for doing the excellent job they always do as well.
So, special Sunday today, especially for the Dweber family with Dally getting baptized,
and congratulations to her and that family as well.
Matthew chapter 5, and let's look together at verses 13 down through 16.
Before we read the text together, I want to give you a little recap.
For some reason, Harlan, this isn't working for me.
Would you?
What's that?
Would you exit out of that software and then open it up again?
It should load.
All right, if we have to go slideless today, we'll go slideless, and that'll be just all right.
But I want to give you a little bit of a recap from what we talked about last Sunday,
and that is the value of salt.
How many of y'all knew that salt was on equal par with gold back in the ancient times?
Some of y'all are smarties.
How many of y'all knew that before last Sunday?
There we go.
All right, yeah.
Some of y'all actually know some things.
That's good.
I was not aware of that until I started studying in preparation for this,
and that was a fascinating little tidbit.
And of course, salt was the primary way to preserve meat back then.
And so they called it white gold.
So when Jesus says, you are the salt of the earth, well, that was an impactful statement.
So we see that there is inherent value that Jesus is giving and assigning to his children
as he is calling them the salt of the earth.
Specifically, he was talking to his disciples, and the crowds gathered there
as he is preaching this famous sermon called the Sermon on the Mount
that we read here in Matthew chapter 5.
And he takes this little parenthetical section to talk about salt and light.
Well, from the word salt, we get the English word salary,
which literally means salt money.
We learned last week that often Roman soldiers and others would receive their form of payment
not in gold or credits, but in salt.
So that was so valuable.
So it was highly impactful and meant a lot more than just the table salt that we use today
as Jesus called his followers the salt of the earth.
So we're going to get into it today now.
And our takeaway from last Sunday before we dive in was, are we worth our salt?
Are we worth our salt?
Well, we know that expression, don't we?
Are you worth your salt?
He's not worth his salt.
We now understand a little bit of context of where that comes from.
So when we're asking ourselves, are we worth our salt in the kingdom of God?
We're asking that challenging question.
We're called to be the salt of the earth.
Are we fulfilling our purpose?
Are we acting as a preservative to those around us,
to the lost world who needs to hear the truth about Jesus?
Are we being a preservative?
Are we worth our role as salt?
Matthew chapter 5, verses 13 through 16.
We'll get the screens figured out in a moment.
But would you all join me if you're able to?
Look at a copy of the Word of God if you can.
I'm reading from the Christian Standard Bible.
If you don't have a Bible with you, there should be one in the pew in front of you.
Salt is the theme.
In Matthew chapter 5, verse 13, Jesus is speaking and says,
You are the salt of the earth, but if the salt should lose its taste, how can it be made salty?
It's no longer good for anything but to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet.
You are the light of the world.
A city situated on a hill cannot be hidden.
No one lights a lamp and puts it under a basket, but rather on a lampstand,
and it gives light for all who are in the house.
In the same way, let your light shine before others so that they may see your good works
and give glory to your Father in heaven.
Let's pray right now and ask God to give us wisdom from His Word.
God, I pray that you would enlighten us to the truth that you were teaching so many years ago,
but is still alive today, still relevant, still meaningful for us in this room.
I pray that you would give us, by your Spirit, the ability to learn what we need to learn today
and apply what we need to apply.
It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
You may be seated. Thank you for standing.
I want to talk for a moment about salt and its many, many uses.
See, my wife is a baker.
How many of y'all have tasted one of Holly Bunnell's cookies?
Anybody? Or something?
Yeah.
Some people just shot their hands right up.
I saw you, Brian.
Those things are incredible.
If you haven't, I'm not trying to make you feel left out,
but you probably do feel a little left out, and I'm sorry for that.
I didn't mean to ruin your Sunday.
But look, right now it's January.
Everybody's trying to go on a diet.
It's probably good that the slides aren't working right now
because, y'all, I had, like, a picture of some delicious-looking baked goods
and candies and such with salt on top.
Did you know that salt enhances the flavor of sweet things?
I didn't know that, really, until I started being around a baker.
Apparently, when you add salt into dessert, it just makes it a whole lot better.
So if you get one of her, you know, brown butter, chocolate chip cookies,
whatever she does, they're great.
But she puts sea salt on top.
And the first time you see that, if you're not familiar with that concept,
you might say, did she mess up?
She meant to put sugar, and actually, she put salt?
No, that's a thing out there.
So salt actually enhances the flavor.
Now, you can certainly overdo it, and then the salt can take over the dish.
But if you use just the right amount,
man, it takes that up to a whole other level of deliciousness, all right?
It's probably good that I don't have my picture on the screen,
because, like I said, this is January.
A lot of people are trying to stick true to their diets, trying to look good,
and that would probably be the result of you having some cravings come back
and maybe cheat on your diet or something.
We don't want to do that.
So instead, we'll just talk about it a little bit
and understand this very deep, very profound truth
that maybe you were not aware of before.
But number one, you want to write it down, salt flavors.
Salt flavors.
Now, last week, we talked about salt as a preservative, right?
A lot of people knew that, but maybe some folks who were not aware
that that is a function of salt it can preserve.
But I think just about everybody knows that salt adds flavor, doesn't it?
That's primarily what we ordinary folks would use salt for today,
although it has thousands of actual uses.
But salt flavors.
And interestingly enough, that's what Jesus references
when he's talking right here in Matthew 5.
Salt flavors.
Now, there's a guy, and I don't have his picture,
so y'all just stick with me.
There's a guy that was kind of one of the first chefs on TV.
He wasn't the first, but he was one of the early chefs on TV
to really make an impact and gather a wide following of viewers.
And he was from Louisiana, I believe.
And he would get there in the kitchen, and he had his set up there,
and he would always have a live studio audience in front of him,
and he'd be making some delicious dish.
And it would look like he was about done,
and it was about ready to be served.
And then he would reach in this little dish of seasoning,
his special blend,
and he would take some of it,
and he would go like this.
Let's take it up a notch.
Bam!
Anybody know who I'm talking about?
Give me his name.
What's that? Say it again.
No, not Gordon Ramsay.
Not Justin, was it?
Emeril.
Emeril Lagasse.
That was the guy.
Emeril.
Emeril Lagasse.
Now, maybe some others have kind of done something similar to that,
but the guy I'm talking to was Emeril,
and he would say,
Bam!
And throw his seasoning on there,
and everybody would love it,
everybody would clap,
and he became like as close to a household name in food TV
as you could get at that time,
kind of before the advent of how the Food Network
became this big old thing if you happen to watch it.
But Emeril always kicked his dishes up a notch with his seasoning
because he understood that no matter how fancy it looks
or how expensive the ingredients are,
what people really care about when it comes to food
is does it taste good, right?
So often, you might go to a real fancy restaurant,
and they serve a dish, and it's, you know, about that small,
and you taste it like,
Man, I'm not even sure I like this, you know?
It's an acquired taste.
Well, I haven't acquired it.
Maybe I'm not wealthy enough to acquire it.
I don't know.
But people really just want food to taste good,
and seasoning, of course, the primary seasoning
and the primary ingredient in any seasoning blend is salt.
So when Jesus says,
You are the salt of the earth,
I feel like he's saying,
You bring the bam.
You kick it up a notch.
You are the people that make this life better.
You know why?
Because here's the second part of that profound,
scintillating truth that you've never heard before,
salt flavors,
but the next part is,
Flavor makes it better.
Am I wrong?
No.
Flavor makes it better, right?
On the rare occasion
that my wife makes something
that I feel like just isn't quite there,
I can't think of a time, okay,
but I'm sure it's happened in our years of marriage,
then I'll take a little salt
and throw it in there,
or what's more common for me,
what do I usually add to my food?
Hot sauce.
Take a little hot sauce,
throw it in there.
You know what's in hot sauce?
Salt.
I just like flavor, you know?
And I like the flavor of hot sauce,
so I'm going to add it to just about everything.
So flavor makes it better.
Jesus is calling us
to make the earth better,
make it more flavorful.
What do we mean by that?
Well, let's go to Colossians chapter 4.
Colossians chapter 4.
Are you somebody who brings the flavor?
Are you somebody who brings the bam?
Do you take it up a notch?
Say, man, I'm not an emerald type guy, okay?
I'm not that kind of personality.
I don't walk into a room
and everybody lights up.
That's okay.
That's all right.
We're not even talking about
a personality thing here.
We're talking much deeper than that.
We're talking,
do you bring the flavor?
Do you bring the salt of Jesus
into the world around you?
Your home,
your thoughts,
your decision making,
your friends,
your circle.
Do you bring the bam?
Do you bring that
which just makes it all better?
That's the challenge.
Colossians chapter 4 and verse 6.
We read this last Sunday,
but it applies still today.
Let your speech always be gracious,
seasoned with what?
Salt.
So that you may know
how you should answer each person.
See, there's the little secret.
We don't always know how to answer,
but the Holy Spirit can provide us
with the salt we need
to make each situation better.
So if you've got a conflict
that you can't seem to figure out
how to resolve,
if you've got a burden
you can't seem to lay down,
or things just aren't
how you believe they should be,
God brings the salt.
And he provides it
to you
so you can then bring it
to the people who need it.
See, God could just act
without us, couldn't he?
He could just do
whatever he wants on this earth
and not even bother
with the middle man.
But he chose a middle man.
He chose us
to be his children,
to build his kingdom,
to act as his arms and feet,
his hands,
to do what he would do,
to go where he would go,
his mouth,
to speak what he would say.
And so he said,
as you speak,
as you share with other people,
you walk through this life together,
let your words,
your speech be gracious,
seasoned with salt,
seasoned with the light of Jesus,
seasoned with the truth of God's word,
seasoned with the kind
of relational attitudes
that Jesus would have.
Well, that's hard, isn't it?
Hard to be like Jesus,
but that's what we're called
to be like.
Now, we've built this whole other thing.
Jesus called us to himself.
He said, follow me.
Walk in my footsteps.
Go where I go.
But then we've built
this whole big Christian framework
and world
that often
has veered a little bit away
from where Jesus actually is
and what he actually called us to do.
So when people think of Christianity
or religion or church,
they often don't always think
immediately of people
that act like Jesus,
unfortunately.
maybe Satan's got in there
and
woven his web
and
drawn us away
from the path
that Jesus called us to walk.
Maybe it's just
our own weak flesh
that has allowed us
to
justify different things
that we've done
in the name of Jesus.
But the truth is,
when we follow Jesus,
we act like the salt
of the earth
and we make everything better.
So, Matthew 5.13
tells us again,
and this time
I put it down
in the New Living Translation.
It says,
you are the salt of the earth,
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.
Thrown out
and trampled underfoot
as worthless.
Guys, it is terrifying
to think
of being thrown out
and trampled
under people's feet.
Has anybody
seen something
like that happen?
Or maybe been
at a concert
or something
where there was just
a rush of people
and somebody went down
and got trampled?
That's terrifying,
isn't it?
I know some of you
have experience
maybe on the ranches
or something
of getting,
losing your feet
and going to the ground
and getting trampled
by animals
and that's no fun,
is it?
Let me share something
about this passage.
It's a hard thing
to read
that salt
that's lost its flavor
is no good
for anything
except to be thrown out
and trampled
under people's feet.
Number one,
if you want to mark
this down,
do it.
Number one,
God's image bearers
hold the highest value
in his eyes.
Let me say it again.
God's image bearers
hold the highest value
in his eyes.
Am I talking about
Christians exclusively here?
Who's an image bearer
of God?
Somebody tell me.
All mankind, right?
We're all created
in his image.
doesn't mean
we reflect his image well,
but we're all made
in the image of God
and God's image bearers
hold the highest value
in his eyes.
Such high value
that he sent his son
to the cross
to die
as a sacrifice
for our sin.
And he raised him
from the dead
and he is alive today
and he is who we can
have our faith in.
But,
God's image bearers
hold his highest value.
Now,
sin can ruin that,
but he can redeem it.
Sin can ruin that,
but he can redeem it.
So God's image bearers
hold this higher value
than anything else
in his creation.
But sin
can ruin
our effectiveness.
But then God
can redeem it.
Notice what he said here.
You are the salt
of the earth.
What good is the salt
if it's lost its flavor?
Can you make it salty again?
Can it be made salty again?
No.
But God can.
God can redeem it.
How do you add salt?
How do you add the flavor
back to salt?
Well,
truth is,
salt can't lose its flavor.
It's scientifically impossible
for salt to lose its flavor.
What you can do
is dilute it.
You can add something
that can counteract
the flavor of salt
and that can go bad
over time.
So,
additives can go bad.
You can counteract
the flavor
with something else.
How many of you
ever put
too much salt
into a dish
that you were making?
Anybody?
One time,
I was making chili.
And just so you know,
I make the world's best chili.
Now,
I'm not going to enter
your chili cook-off
and have that put to the test.
But just so you know,
I make the world's best chili.
Okay?
It was handed down
from generation to generation.
It's all about ranch-style beans.
All right.
But I put too much salt
in the family chili one time.
And that was not a good thing
because it's the family chili.
So,
you don't mess it up.
I didn't tell anybody
because I would have had
my chili-making rights
taken away.
However,
I'm Googling on the internet,
what do you do
to make
something less salty?
Well,
truth is,
you can't really
take the salt out.
Once it's there,
it's there.
You can try
to counteract it
with some vinegar.
You can try
to add some sugar in.
You can try
to just add more
of everything else
to make the salt
spread out a little more.
But the truth is,
if it's over-salted,
I mean,
you're going to have
the dickens of a time
trying to get that thing
to be the right amount
of salt.
But you can dilute it.
And I think that's what
happens with us sometimes.
We're supposed to be
the salt of the earth.
But we get diluted.
Our saltiness
becomes a little less salty
because of everything else
that comes in
and swamps us.
Everything else,
whether it's
the lust of the flesh,
the lust of the eyes,
the pride of life.
We've talked about
there's all these warnings
about the pitfalls
of sin and errors
and mistakes.
And this life
has so many distractions
distractions.
At night,
we're reading
Pilgrim's Progress
with our boys
at devotions time.
And there's so many
accurate,
and let me say
that there's certain things,
that's not a one-for-one
example of the Christian life
with exact truth.
It's not the Bible.
Never look at another book
as a substitute
or equal value
to the Bible.
So I'm not saying
that everything
in Pilgrim's Progress
is exactly as Scripture teaches.
but it can be
effective,
an effective illustration
of the narrative
of walking through
this life with Jesus.
And you see
all these distractions,
all these dangers
that try to pull
little Christian
off his path.
We're reading
the kid's version,
so he's a little guy
in our book.
He's actually a rabbit.
Yeah,
that's fun.
Christian the rabbit.
But it's fascinating
to see
and how it parallels
with the distractions
that you and I face,
with the things
that try to pull us
off course.
And that's really
the only way
that our salt
can be made
less effective.
It's when it's diluted
with everything else
around us.
But let me say,
tell you something else.
First,
God's image bearers
hold the highest value
in his eyes.
Sin can ruin that,
but he can redeem it.
And number two,
God does not throw
anyone out
to be trampled
underfoot.
People do that.
God does not throw
anyone out
to be trampled
underfoot.
People do that.
We do that.
We hurt each other.
We run over each other.
We trample each other.
That's not God.
That's never been God.
It never will be God.
Unfortunately,
many will die
without Jesus
and the Bible
teaches us
that they will have
to go and suffer
eternal torment
in this terrible place
called hell.
It was never created
for them.
It was created
for Satan
and his demons,
the master of lies,
the master of deceit,
the architect of sin.
God doesn't want to be
God's sin.
But,
if we die
without being justified,
being made right
in our relationship
with God,
then we will be
resigned to the fate
of having to pay
the punishment
for our sin.
God doesn't want that.
He's not throwing us out.
He invites us all
to come into his family.
He invites us all
to become the salt
of the earth.
Many reject.
Many won't listen.
So God will never
throw us out.
You know the interesting
thing is?
The only thing
that can restore
the effectiveness
of diluted salt,
you know what it is?
More salt.
So if you find yourself
realistically
less effective
than the salt
that God intended you to be,
get back into his word.
Spend more time with him.
Immerse yourself
with the gospel of Jesus.
That's the salt
that we need.
That's how we regain
our saltiness.
Add more salt back.
Coat ourselves again
with the salt
and then see
how effective
we can be
with God's power.
So,
salt flavors.
Well, we knew that, right?
And flavor makes it better.
Secondly,
salt makes
a permanent difference.
Salt makes
a permanent difference.
There's a quote
I wanted to share
with you
from a pastor
named John Piper.
He says,
people don't enjoy salt.
How many of you
would beg to differ?
Yeah, right?
Well, give him a minute here.
He's going to explain himself.
People don't enjoy salt.
They enjoy
what is salted.
They enjoy
how salt
can improve
something else.
They like
what salt does.
I don't know
of anybody in here
who just wants
to take a salt shaker
and shake it
into their mouth.
Ah!
Tasty lunch, right?
Should I try it?
No?
I mean,
I've eaten a sardine
up here on this stage
before,
last VBS.
It can't be worse
than that, right?
That's disgusting.
Nobody likes that.
But you give me
some tortilla chips
and a bowl of salsa,
I'm going to take
that salt shaker
and shake it
on those chips.
Give me a recipe,
we're going to put
some of that salt
in there.
Man, that's really gross.
That's why I brought water.
Tastes like the ocean.
Alright.
Salt makes
a permanent difference,
but salt on its own,
eesh,
that's tough.
But when you add it
to what needs salt,
it makes it
so much better.
We don't exist
for ourselves,
we exist
for our purpose
on this earth.
And God told us
what our purpose is.
It's to act like salt.
Now the truth is,
when you add salt,
you can't really
take it away.
So the truth is,
you add salt,
you can't get rid of it.
The salt will remain.
The salt will be there.
Turn to your Bibles again.
I don't want you
to fall asleep on me.
Turn to your Bibles
to 1 Peter 1.
1 Peter 1.
Let's read this together.
For sake of time,
I'm going to go ahead
and read while you're turning.
1 Peter 1,
verse 18.
Verse 18.
Ready?
For you know
that you were redeemed
from your empty way of life,
inherited from your fathers,
not with perishable things
like silver or gold,
but with the precious blood
of Christ,
like that of an unblemished
and spotless lamb.
Do you see that?
It wasn't perishable.
We were redeemed
from our empty way of life,
not with things that perish
like silver or gold,
not with something
that can waste away,
but instead with something
that cannot perish,
the precious blood of Christ.
Verse 20.
He was foreknown
before the foundation
of the world,
but he was revealed
in these last times for you.
Thank God he was revealed
to us.
Through him,
you believe in God,
who raised him from the dead
and gave him glory
so that your faith
and hope are in God.
Man, just a side note.
If you don't have faith in me,
if you don't have faith
in this church,
you don't have faith
in this community,
you don't have faith
in this country,
you don't have faith
in the political system,
in the legal system,
you don't have faith
in your bank account
or your retirement savings,
or you don't have faith
in anything else,
maybe you don't even
have faith in yourself.
You can have your faith
and hope in God.
It's the one safe place
to put it.
Your faith and hope
are in God.
Why?
Because he raised his son
from the dead.
That's the power
that we can't match.
That's the thing
that we can't do.
And Jesus did it.
We can have our faith
and hope in him.
Verse 22,
since you have purified yourselves
by your obedience
to the truth
so that you show
sincere brotherly love
for each other
from a pure heart,
love one another constantly.
Well, that's a nice thing to say,
but why should we love
each other constantly?
Because,
verse 23,
you have been born again
not of perishable seed,
but of imperishable.
Something that is permanent.
Something that can't go away.
What is it?
It's the living
and enduring word of God.
Because all flesh
is like grass.
You and I are like grass.
What do you mean by that?
All the glory of flesh
is like the flower
that grows in the grass.
What do you mean?
The grass withers.
The grass will die.
The flower will fall.
There is a time span
on all of this
and there's a time span
on you and me.
There's a ticking clock.
There's an expiration date.
At some point,
our time is going to be over.
But,
verse 25,
the word of the Lord
endures forever.
It will not expire.
It will not end.
In verse 25,
the end,
it says,
this word
that it's talking about,
the word of the Lord
endures forever.
This word
is the gospel
that was proclaimed
or preached
to you.
That's why we preach
the gospel here.
That's why we preach
the word here.
Because it will endure.
It's the thing
we can put our faith
and hope in.
That's why we keep
going back to it
time and time again.
It's what will last.
One last passage,
2 Corinthians chapter 4.
Flip back a few pages,
probably not too many.
2 Corinthians chapter 4
and verse 18.
We're just going to read
one verse.
2 Corinthians 4
and verse 18.
So we do not focus
on what is seen,
but on what is unseen.
For what is seen
is temporary,
but what is unseen
is eternal.
We do not focus
on what is seen,
because what is seen,
what you can see
with your eyes,
that's going to fade away.
But what you can't see,
God's power,
God's word,
the effectiveness
of the gospel,
how he moves
and acts in this world,
that will never end.
That is eternal.
That is forever.
So that's what
we focus on.
That's what he called us
to be,
to bring to this world.
He didn't give us
the job of fixing
this world on our own.
Christians,
you figure out
a solution
to world peace.
You figure out
a solution
to poverty.
You figure out
a solution
to all the injustice
out there.
Y'all figure it out.
You made your mess,
you cleaned it up.
You made your bed,
now lie in it.
That's probably
how we would handle
the situation
if we were God,
right?
Created these
ungrateful people
and they just
messed it all up.
Well, y'all figure out
a solution to it.
No.
Instead,
he gave us
a power source.
He gave us
an unseen spirit.
There's an old hymn
called the unseen hand.
And God is always
moving through us.
So he called us
to be the solution,
but he is providing
the power.
I need a volunteer.
Come on.
Let's go, CJ.
He shot his hand
right up.
You don't even know
what you're volunteering for.
You might regret it
once you get up here,
but come on, dude.
All right,
here we go, y'all.
He's already
regretting his life choices.
Come on, buddy.
Here's what we're doing,
all right?
Here, you hold this
for a second, would you?
Thank you.
I'm going to move this
out of the way
so everybody can see.
Now,
full disclosure,
Karen Schaffner
gave me this idea
for a sermon illustration,
okay?
Where are you, Karen?
There you are,
over there.
I'm probably going
to do it wrong,
but I'm going to try
as best as I can
to recreate
what you told me here,
okay?
All right, buddy.
We can set this down.
Now,
take this glass of water.
It's a clean cup.
Do you want to take a sip
from it,
just make sure
it's just water?
Just take a sip.
Come on,
you got it.
Just water?
Just regular water?
Nothing weird about it?
Okay,
all right,
face the crowd here.
Okay,
so dip your finger
down in that water
and see if the water
changes.
Okay,
pull it out.
So there was just
a little ripple
that happened,
right?
The water kind of
moved a little,
but now it's back
to how it was before,
right?
No real change happened?
Right,
so that's what
we are like,
right?
We dip our finger
into the water of life
and nothing really
changes,
right?
We are just one of many,
one of millions,
billions in this world.
Can't really make
a difference,
right?
Okay,
now,
here,
tell you what,
I'll do this.
Hold your other hand out,
dip that same finger,
roll it around
in that salt right there.
Okay,
get it real good
and coated.
There you go.
Now stick it back
in the water,
swirl it around
a little bit.
Okay.
Now it's your finger,
hopefully it was clean.
I'm going to take a sip
and see if anything's different.
It's a little sour.
A little sour,
a little salty?
Tastes a little different?
Oh yeah.
Buddy,
that made a permanent change
to this water.
The only way
to get that salt taste
out of this water
is to dump it out
and pour fresh water in.
This water
is now permanently changed.
But the only difference
was your finger
was coated in salt.
Y'all give him a hand.
He did great.
You can throw that salt
over your shoulder
if you want to.
Alright.
Y'all,
do you see the point
that Karen was making
when she gave me
this illustration?
And hopefully,
I poorly made for you today.
The point is,
he did nothing different.
He dipped his finger
in the water
both times.
But one time,
it was coated in salt.
That's what made the difference.
If we coat ourselves
in the salt
of the gospel
of Jesus Christ,
if we coat ourselves
in the word of God,
in prayer,
in real meaningful,
deep relationship
with Jesus,
then we bring flavor.
We make a permanent impact.
So our takeaway for today
is this.
Have we lost our flavor?
Are we swirling our finger
down in the water of life
and trying to make an impact
and nothing's really changing?
We're missing the salt.
Would you pray with me right now?
God, I pray that right now
you would teach us
how to coat ourselves in salt.
You called us the salt,
but God,
until we get rid of this body,
we still struggle
to not be salt.
We still struggle
with our old desires,
our old passions,
our old way of thinking,
our old logic.
We still want to go back
to being like the world around us.
But when we coat ourselves
in this salt, God,
we make an unchanging impact.
We make a permanent difference
in the relationships,
in what we do,
what we can accomplish
through you.
Teach us that truth
from your word today.
We'll give you the glory.
In Jesus' name we pray.
교 x
bi x
Achilles
c
S
De
Vi
2018
A