family devotion on salt

quite an interesting devotion today!

Verses we read:

Matthew 5:13 Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men

Luke 14:34 Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men

Mark 9:49,50 For every one shall be salted with fire, and every sacrifice shall be salted with salt. Salt is good: but if the salt have lost his saltness, wherewith will ye season it? Have salt in yourselves, and have peace one with another.

So anyway, my dad pointed out the 4 important things about salt
1. it is flavourful--we need to flavour people's lives...how do we do that? by being good and kind and positive etc etc
2. it has an impact--making a difference. like in the book of Job6:6 Can that which is unsavoury be eaten without salt? or is there any taste in the white of an egg? Yep so we must be tasty...
3. it is a preservative--preserve other people's lives! this point was a bit strange but my Dad used the example of Paul on the ship which was shipwrecked but all the lives on board were saved. then my mom gave the example of Jonah, who because of his disobedience nearly caused everyone in his boat to perish...
4. it makes people thirsty--do we make people thirst for the living waters? do we create a thirst in them for the knowledge of christianity?

yep our short but very interesting sharing...which lead me to think about how i react when people talk to me about christianity and i either a) get defensive or b) feel too strange talking to them about it. i suppose for (a), the "rational" (or elite haha!) part of me feels the need to browbeat people into becoming Christians because it seems like the only choice to make if you don't want to go to hell! because i believe that it is good i want everybody to believe that it is good and to be saved. but the very nature of christianity is that you can't really approach it from this sort of logical point of view, because then it would be being saved by your own works (or knowledge) in this matter, and it can't be that because one can only be saved if God opens your heart and eyes. so while i want to argue and get people to admit that Christianity is the only way it won't work because ultimately it's faith/submission.

So then i feel strange talking about it, because after all it's a very personal relationship with Jesus. How do you explain and SHOW your feeling of love to a person? People can see your love, but they won't be able to understand it even if you tell them a million times how wonderful that person is, unless they make an attempt to get to know the other party. am i making sense? i suppose it's like what uncle gerard said about justification and sanctification; you won't have the assurance of justification unless you are living a sanctified life; likewise if you don't make a choice to keep an open mind i think it's impossible to really submit to God...much as people love to think that if it's meant to be it will happen i think God isn't about to force people to loving Him; He will show us and give us opportunities to come to Him, but you can still choose to walk away.

hmm...i'm still a bit fuzzy on these points, and i really really need to study the bible more before making all these sweeping statements, but at the end of the day, Christianity is a relationship and about choices. What will you choose?