Pass the Salt

Happy Friday!!!

I wanted to thank you all so much for all your great input/insight on my last post regarding *that* question regarding churches and denominations. It just definitely reinforced my thoughts about us all being united as followers of Christ.......We are all ONE in Christ.

Christy Rose slammed dunked it with "It's all about Jesus.....It's about love." LOVE THAT!

So it was really awesome when a friend shared this link on Facebook called Flavorless Salt/Francis Chan. Now, as you know....I am becoming a huge Francis Chan fan, just finished his second book, Forgotten God).....and the title definitely caught my attention because I had written a post when I first started blogging called "Pass the Salt" which was chosen to be published by Serious Life magazine. So seeing as though I had about 3 readers back then, one being Josh...... and as you know, I am a huge run-on sentence abuser and seriously distracted......I decided to share it again today even though my first intention was to post that video clip.

So, if you can hang with me for a bit.....I encourage you to watch the clip of Chan's sermon that I share after this post. He speaks boldly about the church and what he believes it should be. It is about 13 minutes long.....but totally worth every minute.

Pass the Salt (originally posted Jan 27, 2009)

So Sunday we had a great pastor visit and preach. I am always so excited when I see Pastor Felix sitting up front knowing that powerful stuff is coming.

He got into a great message about how Jesus came to mend the broken-hearted.....not so much in the sense of broken heart associated with a break-up or personal relationship. But talking about the broken center or core of man. He talked about how we must be secure in who we are in the outside without the need to be assured/noticed/honored on the outside. It was a deep, but easy to understand message as this man knows how to preach it.

But what really pierced into my heart, was how he started out his sermon referencing to how as Christians.......we are to be leaders. The city on the hill, the light in a dark place.....the salt of the earth. He made this excellent reference about how when you cook or bake....you don't need a large amount of salt as you would other ingredients. A little bit of salt goes a long way. It is very influential and can affect the whole recipe.

So, I started thinking about how I want to make sure I am doing my best to be the salt in this life. I want to be that addition in people's life and season it. I don't want to just go through the motions, but really live the life that God has called me to live.

I want Jesus's love and glory to radiate through my everyday life.

Even better.......I want people to see Jesus when they see me, but not because I am wearing a cool Christian t-shirt (even though I do have some pretty awesome ones)

Wow, that seems like such a huge unobtainable feat, doesn't it? But you know what? This all can happen because He is in me!

And He tells (commands) me to love and treat people the way Jesus did (would). As His servant, I am commanded to go out and teach others about Him. And who am I to doubt what He says I can do (and that He expects me to do). This is something that I cannot let my own insecurities or junk that I am harboring in my heart to stop me.

So I am jotting down just a few things that I want to hold myself accountable for:

I want people to "meet" Jesus when they meet me.

I want teachers to know there is something different about my children.

I want to choose being kind over being right.

I want to give that stranger a smile when they didn't even realize that they needed one.

I want to inspire others to keep the faith, even when it looks like there is no hope.

I want to be kind to that cashier, even when she if she is rude to me.

I want to radiate God's glory, even when I am in a dark place.

I want to encourage others to seek Him when they are the furthest away from Him.

I want people to ask me why I have such a burning desire for God.

I want to show that you can see God's artistic ways in every insect to the highest of mountains.

I want to lead the broken hearted to The Ultimate Physician.

I want to be able to have the perfect words land on someones' heart.

I want to display the confidence God gives me to face anyone or anything that tries to bring me down.

I want to do all these things (and I can, The Word tells me so....Philippians 4:13)
......not to get any personal satisfaction/reward.

My reward has already been given to me.
Eternal life.
Jesus living in me.
The joy.
The peace.
The forgiveness.
The hope.
The strength.


......the love of Christ.

I want to be the perfect dash of salt that God has created me to be in this world.

xox
*~Michelle~*



and without further adieu (I always wonder what that means) ..... I share with you a powerful message:

Flavorless Salt by Francis Chan.


Have a beautiful weekend.......filled with SONshine, my friends!