The PASSION Blog

Matthew 5:13-14 says, “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”.

When I think about salt I think of it being something that adds flavour or preserves what it is added to. This caused me to ask myself three questions.

1. Am I adding the “flavour” of God to the things I am involved with?
2. Am I “preserving” the good things of God in the group or situation I find myself in?
3. Have I lost some of the saltiness I once had?

Simple things like having a positive and encouraging attitude and really living out what we believe is at the heart of being salty I think. Treating people with love and respect and then helping them when they are in need makes a huge difference.

This is the sort of thing people notice and attracts them to Jesus. That was all it took for me some 19 years ago. Two friends at work who really loved and followed Jesus. They were as salty as salt could be and it made a huge difference to my life.

Colossians 2:6-7 says, “So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness”.

If we need to “continue to be rooted and built up in Him”, how do we do this? I believe there are three main ways.

1. Read the Bible - I believe the Bible is God’s handbook for life and its power to transform our lives. Reading the Bible helps us to learn more about Jesus and His teachings. When we know about Jesus’ teachings and we try to follow them we are able to grow in our faith.

2. Ongoing Prayer - Prayer helps us to get in tune with God, but it strengthens us and makes a difference in our everyday situations. If you are not used to praying simply talk to God like you would with your closest friend. The key to prayer is to open the lines of communication with God and go from there.

3. Fellowship - Meeting with other people who share your faith is a key to going deeper in Christ. Meeting with others helps us to learn from each other and to support each other along life’s journey.

One of things I feel called to do this year is disciple my kids. Since our kids were very young we have tried to teach them about our faith in Christ and tried to instill godly values in them.

I have been praying about it and I have decided to use the resource from Billy Graham I mentioned a few weeks ago. Instead of doing the whole study under each section, I am going to do the first page of each and adapted it for our kids. I might include some questions that related to the verses we read.

The reason this is one my heart is that I know the difference having faith in Christ has made in my life. It is like chalk and cheese. Those who have known me long term know how my life has changed and how much better off I am. I want my kids to experience this too. I want them to have a solid anchor of faith for when the storms of life come.

The other reason is the Bible gives fathers special responsibility to train their kids up to follow Jesus. In numerous places God charges fathers to teach their kids the ways of God. He says if we do they will prosper in all they do. I want this for my kids too.

As parents I really believe one of our greatest ministries is to our kids. We need to love them and care for them, but we also need to help them to learn godly principles and how they can live them out in their everyday lives.

If my wife and I can teach my kids to love and follow Jesus and to love and care for those around them, we would have gone a long way to being great parents and fulfilling our responsibility to God.

I was watching an interview with Sachin Tendulkar on the cricket coverage yesterday. It was interesting to hear what his life is like in India. He can hardly leave his home in India as he is so popular and people mob him wherever he goes. From the interview it sounded like he preferred to be away from home as he more of a chance to relax and have time alone.

This made me think about how at times we idolise our sports stars. It is to the point that in some cases we worship them. From a very young age many of them are mobbed by adoring fans, bucket loads of money is thrown at them and they are treated like royalty. Is it any wonder that some of them go off track?

Now I love my sport just as much as the next guy, probably more to be honest. But I think we need to keep our adulation in check. We can admire our sports heroes and respect their ability, but it has to fall a long way short of worship.

The Bible tells us that we should worship God and Him alone (Exodus 20:3). When we put our sports stars on a high pedistool and give them worship, it sets them up for a big fall as people were not ever intended to be worshipped. More importantly though, it robs God of what should belong to Him alone.

I was just over at ChristianCourses.com and noticed they had a new free course on the Miracles of Jesus. It is a six lessons course that looks at what a miracle is and what miracles Jesus performed.

Here’s a cut and paste from the course blurb…

“Even after 2000 years, the miracles of Jesus still raise questions: Did Jesus really cause the lame to walk, give sight to the blind, and raise the dead? Or were His supernatural acts merely legends created by His followers? Many simply can’t believe that the miracles recorded in the New Testament gospels actually happened or that miracles are even possible. What evidence can we find for a miracle-working Jesus? And what can the ancient land of the Bible reveal?”

It looks interesting so I thought I would pass it on.

Recently I saw one of those behind the scenes making of a movie shows. It was where you got to see behind the camera and saw the director and crew at work making the film come to life. There was lots of action and people working together to make what we see on the big screen.

As I thought about this it made me think of how God works in our lives to bring us to where we need to be. It is like He is the great director of our lives. He sits there and calls out the instructions and we simply follow. When one scene is done He yells, “cut and wrap” and we move on to something else. Like a movie there are many actors with different roles. Some are on screen while others sit and wait their turn. Some have major roles in some scenes and some have have a supporting role. Some build the sets, while others act as coaches or make the clothing.

The main thing to remember is that God wants us all to be involved in His “movie”. He has a plan and role for each of us. When we recognise this and tell God we want to be involved things, He brings people and circumstances around us to bring His plan to pass. Then the movie of your life really takes off and gathers momentum.