Happy Thursday

Salt

[Jesus said:] "You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men." --Matthew 5:13

It's hard to believe that salt is made up of two highly unstable, dangerous chemicals-sodium and chlorine. Sodium is an extremely active element found naturally in a combined form, always linking itself to another element. And chlorine is the poisonous gas that gives bleach its offensive odor.

But combined together, these two elements produce sodium chloride, a multipurpose substance we call common table salt. It's used to season foods, de-ice highways, preserve meat, make paper (believe it or not), process metals and aluminums in textile industries, create a work of art combined with watercolors, and even seed clouds to produce rain in desert areas!

Love and truth can also be combined like sodium and chlorine to produce a powerful life-giving, life-saving effect. Love without truth is flighty, sometimes blind, and willing to mesh with various doctrines. On the other hand, truth alone can be offensive, sometimes even poisonous. Spoken without love, it can turn people away from the gospel of Jesus.

When these two things are combined in the life of a believer or the Church, then it produces what Jesus called "the salt of the earth." With these two elements working together in our lives, we are able to preserve our faith, give a fresh taste of God's Word to others, and build up disciples for Christ.

PRAYER CHALLENGE: Thank You, Jesus, for the chance You've given me to be "salt" to the world. I ask You to help me always combine truth and love in my daily walk with You and when I'm sharing You with others.

Daily Smile:

If Microsoft made toasters...
Every time you bought a loaf of bread, you would have to buy a toaster. You wouldn't have to take the toaster, but you'd still have to pay for it anyway. Toaster'95 would weigh 15000 pounds (hence requiring a reinforced steel countertop), draw enough electricity to power a small city, take up 95% of the space in your kitchen, would claim to be the first toaster that let's you control how light or dark you want your toast to be, and would secretly interrogate your other appliances to find out who made them. Everyone would hate Microsoft toasters, but nonetheless would buy them since most of the good bread only works with their toasters.