July 3, 2022 - INSCRIPTIONS FROM THE HEART

By Abby Zamora-Cheng

Imagine yourself in the kitchen cooking some stew and you add salt as a finishing touch to enhance its flavor. You taste the stew and it's still a bit bland so you add more salt…and yet, no matter how much salt you add, the stew tastes the same and remains flavorless. You realize that the salt in your pantry has no taste and so you throw it where it belongs: in the garbage.

Jesus calls his followers the "salt of the earth" in Matthew 5:13. Salt is arguably  a necessity in most recipes if you want the dish to have any sort of flavor. By comparing us to salt, Jesus is saying that as his followers, we are needed out in the world in order to impact it for His kingdom and glory. Just as food seasoned properly tastes a lot better, so is the world a better place for all when Christians who are in a right relationship with God are influencing it for His glory.

But just like our hypothetical tasteless salt, what is the point of Christians if we are not making a difference in the world around us? Did Jesus really call us to a life of following him only to keep us safe and comfortable in our bubble, just going through the motions of life as Western society has defined it? While there is absolutely nothing wrong with going to school, getting a job, getting married, buying a house, and having kids, is that really all that God wants us to experience? I wrestle with these questions quite a bit because I am pretty content with the comfortable life Jesus has so far blessed me with. It's scary to know that Jesus promises us that we will share not just in his glory but his sufferings as well. And yet, would I rather cower in the face of these troubles or become salt that has lost its flavor, thrown out and trampled underfoot as worthless?

Praise God that He continually shows us mercy when we stray from His word and that He is changing our hearts as we spend more time with him each day. I pray that we as a church go out as salt of the earth and flavor every part of the life that God has called us to live!