Prayer To Be Those Who Bring Out The Flavours Of God In Our World

I am grateful for the many authors and bloggers who put their thoughts and reflections about God’s word online.  There’s such a variety and I am blessed and challenged by a variety of them.  I have some that I consult on a daily basis but then there are days – like the holiday at the beginning of this week – that gave me an opportunity to look at some others.

I had to smile a bit because as I did some readings that morning I was also cooking up a batch of “vegetable medley soup” in my slow cooker.  Well, now this soup is a combination of all the left-over cooked veggies from weeks of meals that I’ve thrown into my freezer, plus whatever in the crisper that looks like it won’t last too much longer.  Along with some broth and seasonings it all goes into the slow cooker and gets blended into a hearty soup that I enjoy with crackers.  No two pots of the soup are the same – although I have certain veggies that I like to make sure I add in because they really add something lovely to the taste. 

Now I really do have to make some spice choices as I go depending on what I’m throwing into that pot.  Sometimes it makes sense to go Asian with lemongrass, ginger, and coconut milk.  Other times it becomes a more North American style beef or chicken and veggie flavour.  It’s a creative dance for sure.  But we all know that one seasoning that always goes in in salt. 

Salt was used a lot during the time Jesus walked on the earth and that made it a very useful object lesson for an important teaching Jesus invites us to bring front and center to our attention.  Many of us have often read or heard these familiar words:

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 underfoot.  Matthew 5:13

The Message translation puts it this way:

Let me tell you why you are here. You’re here to be salt-seasoning that brings out the God-flavors of this earth. If you lose your saltiness, how will people taste godliness? You’ve lost your usefulness and will end up in the garbage. Matthew 5:13

What was brought to my attention, in some way, by the writer of the devotional I was reading this morning is the fact that these words come at the end of the famous “Beatitudes.”  It’s like all those things are the main ingredients and flavours that make the soup so heartwarming but without the salt, they just don’t come together.  What are those ingredients?  Let’s remind ourselves of them, shall we:

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.

Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. Matthew 5:3-12

What do these character qualities look like in our daily living these days?  When we are faced with the ongoing challenges of this pandemic, how are we managing to hold onto the strength of God and lift up a strong witness so we reflect the Kingdom, experience and share comfort, be filled with righteousness, see God and be known as His, and rejoice and be glad in it all because we know that we will find all we need, or as the words of this passage express it “for they will inherit the earth.”  I confess that I’ve had my moments and issues. I daily stand in need of God’s help to live above what’s going on around me. 

Today we’ll begin our prayers with some of the words of the blogger who led me to these thoughts.

Lord, in the quiet we ask You to show us where we have lost some of our zing, where my life has lost it’s Holy Spirt zip and sizzle.  Lord, we repent, and we ask that You would infuse us with Your flavour again so that those around us can taste and see that You are good.

God, we pray for the church.  Forgive us for all the ways we taste like, look like, sound like, and act like the world around us.  Where we have allowed the dominant culture of our day and time to dilute and diminish the glory of God and the good news of the Kingdom, God, in Your mercy, cleanse us.  Set us apart to Yourself.  Let holiness adorn Your house.  Start with us and our churches.  We pray for them now.

God, we yield ourselves to the adventure of obedience, of following You in this countercultural way during this challenging season of the pandemic.  Jesus, You have our attention.  You have our affection.  You have our allegiance.

We’ve prayed these verses often, but we pray them again today when we feel inadequate to live up to all that these Beatitudes verses call us up to:

His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.  Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.  2 Peter 1:3-4

Well, as there are many different kinds of salt, so we are all very different people and God, in His creativity has lots of different ways for us to bring out the flavour of His kingdom where we live and interact with others.  Let’s have a great day doing it.