April Eleventh
Today’s One Year BIble Reading…
Joshua 3:1-4:24 * Luke 14:7-35
Psalm 80:1-19 * Proverbs 12:27-28
"Salt is good for seasoning. But if it loses its flavor, how do you make it salty again? Flavorless salt is good neither for the soil nor for the manure pile. It is thrown away.
Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand."
Luke 14:34-35
What is God currently doing in and through our lives today? It’s not a question of what He has done in the past, or what we think He might do in the future, but do we see Him at work in our lives today? Flavorless salt is still salt. If you look at it, you would call it salt. If you held it in your hand, it would feel like salt. The only difference is that it has lost its ability to change the taste of food and lost its potency to help heal wounds and preserve. As Christians we should be taste-changers and wound-healers. We’ve all met those who have grown apathetic in their walks with God. They rest in the fact that they “are salt” and “look like salt,” though they have stopped living out their salty-purpose long ago. Potent salt creates a current thirst, and if the world is not thirsty for God because of what they see in us, it might be time to have a heart-check-appointment with God.
"For the LORD your God dried up the river right before your eyes, and He kept it dry until you were all across, just as He did at the Red Sea when He dried it up until we had all crossed over."
(Joshua 4:23)
For so long, the Israelites had heard of the work God did in their past generations, but here we see God at work in their current lives as well. He is always ready with a new work as He reveals His faithfulness in each generation. I love reading about God’s revival work in all the days behind us, but don’t you want to see Him bringing revival upon this current generation as well?
"Purify yourselves, for tomorrow the LORD will do great wonders among you."
(Joshua 3:5)
May we have ears that are open to God’s Words and allow Him to purify us with new saltiness today.
"So his master said, 'Go out into the country lanes and behind the hedges and urge anyone you find to come so that the house will be full."
(Luke 14:23)
Whether we have the gift of evangelism, or we're doing the work of an evangelist, may we be filled with the salty passion and purpose of bringing people into the banqueting feast of God.
"Turn us again to Yourself, O God of Heaven's Armies. Make Your face to shine down upon us. Only then will we be saved."
(Psalm 80:7)
God wants to shine down upon us and fight on our behalf.
"You cleared the ground for us, and we took root and filled the land."
(Ps. 80:9)
God wants to part the seas before us to bring us in and clear the land that we might take root. He has not called us to a passive, resting-on-your-old-laurels life. This life that Jesus has redeemed us for us is to be an ever-salty, counting the cost, leaving all, hating everything in comparison, picking up our crosses daily, following Him, building stones of remembrance, and passionately telling the future generations about the kingdom of God kind of life. I pray the world would taste our saltiness today!
"The way of the godly leads to life; that path does not lead to death."
Proverbs 12:28
What stood out to you from today’s Bible reading?