Needed: Salty Christians

“Dear friends, you are foreigners and strangers on this earth. So I beg you not to surrender to those desires that fight against you. Always let others see you behaving properly, even though they may still accuse you of doing wrong. Then on the day of judgment, they will honor God by telling the good things they saw you do.” (1 Peter 2:11-12 CEV).

The old saying goes, “You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink.” That’s not entirely true. An old cowboy pointed out, “You can (make him drink) if you put salt in his oats!”

We live in an age where most seem to have little or no desire for God–despite what the Barna polls report. God is seen as an interruption on our time and in our lives–even among many professing Christians. In such a barren spiritual atmosphere, is there any hope for effective witnessing? I believe the answer is yes.

Now let me quickly state that I think many of the old tried-and-true methods that we keep trying to go back to are tired and mostly ineffective. Certainly there are those few who are still reached by cold contacts–door to door evangelism, a passed gospel tract, etc. Not that I am disparaging these methods, but the reason they are tired and ineffective for the most part is because they are leading satiated “horses” to the well of living water but the horses are not thirsty; they don’t recognize their need. The reason they don’t recognize their need is because the salt of the earth have been largely removed from society. Let me explain.

Barna polls report that a vast majority of Americans consider themselves “spiritual.” Yet, church attendance and baptisms are at an all-time low. Why? Most of these “spiritual” people, including many who consider themselves evangelical, believe that spirituality is a private thing. To use another common saying, most subscribe to the lie that we should “never discuss politics or religion.” (No wonder this country is going to hell in a handbasket as another saying goes.)

The concept of never discussing politics or religion is not biblical. In fact, when it comes to faith, the opposite is true! Look again at our text, this time from the New International Version: “Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.” (1 Peter 2:11-12 NIV--emphasis mine).

Jesus said of His followers, “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 NIV). Now, herein (I believe) is the problem. The reason most people do not appear to be interested in the things of God is because the people of God have lost their saltiness. The only place we demonstrate our faith is in the confines of our places of worship. The rest of the time we live with the same ambitions, desires, fears, anxiety and unfortunately even vices as the world around us. Like Lot in Sodom, we have not only moved into the world but we have allowed the world to move into us! That has got to change! We who call ourselves believers must begin to live like believers! When we who call ourselves believers begin to live like believers (in action and word), a thirsty world will stand up and take notice, they will recognize their thirst and they will drink from the well of Living Water.

Prayer

"Never stop praying." (1 Thessalonians 5:17, NLT)

The great Methodist theologian E.M. Bounds (1835-1913), stated, “Few Christians have anything but a vague idea of the power of prayer; fewer still have any experience of that power. The church seems almost wholly unaware of the power God puts into her hand; this spiritual carte blanche on the infinite resources of God’s wisdom and power is rarely, if ever, used — never used to the full measure of honoring God. It is astounding how poor the use, how little the benefits. Prayer is our most formidable weapon, but the one in which we are the least skilled, the most averse to its use.” Sad, but I fear all too true.

What do you face today? Will you try to tackle it alone, or will you seek God’s help? Even those who believe in prayer have the sinful tendency to utilize it only when all else has failed. We shouldn’t turn to prayer as a last recourse, prayer should be our first resort; that was what our Lord did. Everything He did He did only after first checking with the Father! (See John 8:28). We on the other hand tend to make our plans and then ask the Lord to bless them.

Let us neither forget nor squander the awesome power that God has made available to us, His children. May we not only know but experience the awesome power of prayer in our daily lives.