Wednesday, August 30, 2023
Decaf Disciples
Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. (Hebrews 10:24 NLT)
Do you know certain Christians who, after you spend time around them, make you want to be more godly? There’s something about their lifestyle that causes you to say, “I want to be more like that. I want to walk with God like that, worship like that, and share my faith like that.”
Those Christians are doing their jobs because they’re stimulating a thirst for Christ in others.
The greatest compliment a nonbeliever can pay to a believer is when they say, “Why are you the way that you are? I want what you have.”
However, we cannot be an influence for purity in the world if we are compromised in our purity.
Jesus said, “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” (Matthew 5:13 NLT).
These are some heavy-duty words from Jesus about unsalty Christians. Essentially, He’s saying that if we’re not making a difference, then what good are we?
We can’t sting the world’s conscience if we go against our own. We cannot stimulate spiritual thirst in others if we have lost our own. And God cannot use us to stop the corruption of sin in others if sin has corrupted us.
According to Jesus, if we are unsalty salt, we are good for nothing.
A Christian should have flavor—zest, zing, edge. Christians aren’t supposed to be bland. They aren’t supposed to go along with everything. They are to be salt, stopping the spread of evil and stimulating thirst for Christ in others. They are there to make a difference.
Otherwise, they are like tepid coffee, uncarbonated cola, or a nonfat, decaf latte. In short, they’re not living the life that God called them to live.
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