Do You Need a Little Spiritual Salsa to Get You Moving?
Good Morning Friends,
About 15 years ago my Dad caught the flu and was drinking extra water to wash out the impurities and toxins from the disease. The only problem was that at that same time he was depleting the electrolyte salts in his body that provide the means for his neurons to fire. He had become unable to move. Luckily I just happened to find him and took him to the emergency room where he quickly recovered when placed on an I.V. I share the story today because at work we are making a push to share more information about the Taste of Immokalee and that reminded me of the salt of the earth scripture which reminded me of the salt needed by my dad. In retrospect my dad would have done well to have had some Taste of Immokalee Salsa with some chips… but that taste waiting to be created. The beauty is that all these events give us a clue to a deeper reality of how God, like the salt, like me just happening to be in the right place at the right time, like youth giving back through social entrepreneurship can work invisibly in the history of our lives in ways that we never notice until later. That is how Taste of Immokalee is getting traction. The flavor is permeating space in God’s time. I guess that at some point we figure out that events are not as random as we might believe. It is then, only as the events in our lives connect, do we discover the real pattern, the real purpose and the real need. Do You Need a Little Spiritual Salsa to Get You Moving?
Scripture: You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored?
Matthew 5:13-16 (NRSV)
I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I hope.
Psalm 130:5 (NRSV)
You were dead through the trespasses and sins in which you once lived, following the course of this world, following the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work among those who are disobedient. All of us once lived among them in the passions of our flesh, following the desires of flesh and senses, and we were by nature children of wrath, like everyone else. But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ–by grace you have been saved– and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God– not the result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.
Ephesians 2:1-10 (NRSV)
Message: To survive in the world we are taught that there is no free lunch. We are taught to demand our rights and to get what we pay for. The problem with this is that, more often than not, we will discover we cannot save ourselves in most of the small things and perhaps never when it really matters. None of that worldly wisdom was ever going to help my dad when he discovered he could not move. Grace was needed to save him on that day. And grace is needed to save us in our day as well. It was grace that brought my dad home that day and grace that eventually led him to his home in heaven. The world needs more grace… So too we need a little salt with our spiritual salsa that is the spice of the Christian life we are to share with others. Friends, I hope you get the point of this, if the Spirit of God is to move in our very being we need to retain our flavor and we need to share this hope with others. Here Spiritual Salsa is not just a recipe. Certainly is the sharing of good news and hope to live healthy and abundant lives. Yes we are to blend well, serve regularly and enjoy the party. But friends the meat of the message is that God is with us when we share the hope.
Pray we are a recipe for healthy living. Pray that we each day have a healthy helping of prayer. Pray we share a cup worship in community. Pray we feast on the Word of God. Pray our ministry service is topped off with a healthy helping of generous giving in service to others. Pray Christ come alive in our lives. Pray we reorganize our thinking and start looking for and anticipating God in our lives. Pray we begin to see history through the eyes of grace. Pray that God make obvious to us what was hidden. Pray we know that God loves us. Pray we realize that we cannot stand without Him. Pray we place our trust wisely. Pray we realize that we cannot live without God’s help. Pray we realize that God forgives even when we can do nothing but watch Him meet our real needs. Pray we share a little Spiritual Salsa.
Blessings,
John Lawson
To learn more about the Taste of Immokalee please visit this link and share:
Daily Devotionals 