Scripture
Mark 9:49,50-“For everyone will be tested with fire. Salt is good for seasoning. But if it loses its flavor, how do you make it salty again? You must have the qualities of salt among yourselves and live in peace with each other.”
Observation
Fire and salt. Good for grilling. In this passage, Jesus was teaching his disciples about their assignment on earth. Following Him didn’t make their lives easier, it greatly complicated things, and they were persecuted. Jesus was preparing them to feel the heat. Heat and fire bring out the best in food and as we face tough times, we have the opportunity for the best to come out of us. I looked up the characteristics of salt in cooking, it’s never the main ingredient, it’s an enhancer, it enhances flavor and texture. It’s also a nutrient source and it’s a binder. It brings ingredients together and brings out the best in a dish. May these things be so in our lives as we have the qualities of salt in our communities.
But there is a warning attached to this lesson: salt that has lost its flavor, its savor, is worthless, and in the same way, Christians who don’t reflect Jesus’ love and grace are purposeless.
Application
The world needs us just like food needs salt. We will be tested by fire and need to keep our savor so that we can enhance the world. Testing by fire is no small thing. It means that we will be pushed out of our comfort zone, we will be squeezed, we will face tough times and tough people, but through this God is refining us and bringing out the best in us, preparing us for what’s ahead. And though it all we must remain salty! In the best sense of the word, of course! We must continue to enhance those around us, through His grace, through dream releasing, through the light that we shine in the darkness. I must persevere through the fire, retain my savor and let God work through me to bring out the best in those around me.
Prayer
Dear Heavenly Father, I want to season those that you’ve put around me. I want to enhance the wonderful flavors and other ingredients that You mix together and forge through heat. Obviously, that means that it won’t be easy, that we will face trials and adversity, but I pray that You will keep us bound together in service to You. In Jesus' name, Amen.
