Monday, December 7 2020 Devotional
"Salt is good, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is of no use either for the soil or for the manure pile. It is thrown away. He who has ears to hear, let him hear."
Luke 14:34-35
This ominous warning is directed by the Lord Himself to believers who are tempted to compromise with the world; in other words, to all of us.
We are supposed to be the salt of the earth, flavoring the society around us as we live lives wholly committed to Him. But if we believe, teach, and live whatever the sinful world says we should, we’ve lost our flavor.
In ancient times, organic garbage was recycled, either by scattering it directly on the fields or by dumping it into the manure pile, which served as a compost heap that would eventually, when it had cured properly, be used as fertilizer.
Flavorless salt can’t be just scattered over the fields: it would sterilize the soil. You can’t dump it into the manure pile, either, because it would ruin the composting pile for use as fertilizer. The only use for flavorless salt was to dump it on the roads, where it would be trampled underfoot by the traffic and successfully kill weeds in the roadway.
The Lord is warning us what will happen to nominal Christians and to churches that fail to “hold fast the Word of Truth.” They will be trampled underfoot by the traffic of the world.
Faithful churches and faithful Christians earn the respect of the world. They may be hated, resented, and rejected because of their stand but they will eventually be grudgingly respected, even by their fiercest enemies. And meanwhile they change the flavor of the soup of society.
Unfaithful churches and unfaithful Christians who don’t really stand on the Word of God are despised. The world will pretend to look up to them so long as they are useful. They will quote them on the evening news as though they spoke for all Christianity as long as they say what the World wants to hear. But eventually the true disdain for them will show and they will be cast aside and trampled underfoot.
Be faithful to Jesus. The World hates those who follow Him, but He loves us and will preserve, protect, and bless us as we stay close to Him.
Lord Jesus, my heart is so quick to seek the approval of the World. Keep me close to You. Remind me of Your Word as I live today. Help me to live, speak, and be a faithful witness to Your grace. Amen.
Pastor Dan Giles