FAMILY IT! — Wednesday Family Devotional — “Flavorful Family”

Supplies: Bible; salty snacks (optional)

READ

Read Matthew 5:13-16 together.

SHARE 

So where do you stand on salt?  In Jesus’ day, that question would seem strange.  Everyone enjoyed salt.  It had many uses and was both helpful and tasty.  Fast forward two thousand years and the opinions are more diverse.  While most of us still agree it’s tasty, we also know what health professionals have told us: too much sodium is bad.  We sometimes find ourselves in a tug-of-war between the potato chips in the pantry and the “latest medical findings” we just heard about on Dateline.  So to accommodate our salty cravings, the market has responded by helping us compensate in other areas.  Grocery store shelves are lined with low-salt, no-salt, and reduced-sodium products.  Everything from cereals to taco seasonings sports a big star on it telling me it can help me lower my sodium.  Yay!  (That means I can pour extra salt packets on my fries, right?)

Where do you fall on the spectrum?  Are you a salt-lover or do you take an anti-sodium position?  Share with your family.

THINK

One thing I love so much about scripture is how it transcends time.  In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus was speaking in a way that was culturally relevant to the crowd that day.  He used a reference like salt because it was something they could all understand.  Those people were nodding as He spoke: “Ah, yes.  I totally understand.  Salt has a noticeable purpose in my life and, in the same way, my faith can have a noticeable purpose in the lives of those around me.”  They got it.  

Fast forward two thousand years and, even though our views on salt are very different, Jesus is still speaking in a way that is culturally relevant to us.  You see, as Christians in the 21st century, I think we struggle with the pluralistic world we live in.  We are bombarded with so many different view points about “higher powers” and “spirituality.”  Nobody’s right and nobody’s wrong—it’s all just a matter of personal preference.  In fact, it’s cool to embrace everyone else’s belief system.  And so to cope in this framework, a market has developed for “low-salt Christianity.”  There’s the “no-salt” kind where you know you’re a Christian, but you don’t advertise it.  There’s no reason anyone else has to know.  Then there’s the “low salt” kind; your friends know you go to church and you have a fish sticker on your car, but you don’t let all that Christian stuff go to your head.  I mean, it doesn’t need to change who you are, right?   Or how about the “reduced sodium” brand of faith?  Yes, you believe in Jesus, but so much of the Bible is old-fashioned fundamentalist hokum.  You can pick and choose which parts of theology really work for you.  After all, you don’t want to be too Christian; you run the risk offending someone, of potentially ruining a relationship or, worse, seeming un-hip. 

This is the kind of salt-less-ness we run the risk of living with today: a life so bland, so void of any Jesus-spice that it has no influence, no flavoring on the surrounding world.  Is that really how we want to live?  Is that really the model we want for the Savior who changed our lives?  Who turned our worlds upside-down?  Who looked into our dark and sin-filled hearts and said, “THAT’S the one I want!”  How about instead we crank up the volume, we pour on the salt, and let the world taste the difference Jesus makes?

APPLY

This may be a little challenging to process, but would you take that step and spend a couple of minutes thinking about how you’re living out your faith.  Are you a salty Christian or do you find yourself being more of a “reduced-sodium” follower?  What are you doing to flavor the world with Jesus?  Or what’s influencing you to not flavor the world?  Now that you’ve spent some time in this passage, what kind of Christian do you want to be?  What can you do to start making those changes?

Crack open a bag of your favorite salty snack and spend some time talking about these things together.  Decide how you can help each other be a “flavorful family.”

PRAY

Sweet (and salty?) Jesus, thank You for coming in Your boldness.  It’s amazing how many different people You touched while living a salty life, opening the eyes of everyone around You to who God is and what He desires.  Help us, Jesus, to live boldly in our own places: our schools, our neighborhoods, our workplaces, and our homes.  We want to flavor the world with Your love.  In Your Holy Name we pray, Amen.

REPLY

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Friday Readings

• Luke 7:18-35 (NIV) 

Jesus and John the Baptist 

18 John’s disciples told him about all these things. Calling two of them, 19 he sent them to the Lord to ask, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?”

20 When the men came to Jesus, they said, “John the Baptist sent us to you to ask, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?’”

21 At that very time Jesus cured many who had diseases, sicknesses and evil spirits, and gave sight to many who were blind. 22 So he replied to the messengers, “Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor. 23 Blessed is anyone who does not stumble on account of me.”

24 After John’s messengers left, Jesus began to speak to the crowd about John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed swayed by the wind? 25 If not, what did you go out to see? A man dressed in fine clothes? No, those who wear expensive clothes and indulge in luxury are in palaces. 26 But what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. 27 This is the one about whom it is written:

“‘I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way before you.’

28 I tell you, among those born of women there is no one greater than John; yet the one who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.”

29 (All the people, even the tax collectors, when they heard Jesus’ words, acknowledged that God’s way was right, because they had been baptized by John. 30 But the Pharisees and the experts in the law rejected God’s purpose for themselves, because they had not been baptized by John.)

31 Jesus went on to say, “To what, then, can I compare the people of this generation? What are they like? 32 They are like children sitting in the marketplace and calling out to each other:

“‘We played the pipe for you, 

and you did not dance; 

we sang a dirge, 

and you did not cry.’ 

33 For John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon.’ 34 The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’ 35 But wisdom is proved right by all her children.”

• Ephesians 5: 15-16 (NIV)

15 Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, 16 making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.

• Genesis 3: 8-9 (NIV)

8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”

James 2: 14-17 (NIV)

Faith and Deeds 

 

14 What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? 15 Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. 16 If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? 17 In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.

Wednesday Readings

• Luke 7:18-35 (NIV) 

Jesus and John the Baptist 

18 John’s disciples told him about all these things. Calling two of them, 19 he sent them to the Lord to ask, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?”

20 When the men came to Jesus, they said, “John the Baptist sent us to you to ask, ‘Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?’”

21 At that very time Jesus cured many who had diseases, sicknesses and evil spirits, and gave sight to many who were blind. 22 So he replied to the messengers, “Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor. 23 Blessed is anyone who does not stumble on account of me.”

24 After John’s messengers left, Jesus began to speak to the crowd about John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed swayed by the wind? 25 If not, what did you go out to see? A man dressed in fine clothes? No, those who wear expensive clothes and indulge in luxury are in palaces. 26 But what did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. 27 This is the one about whom it is written:

“‘I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way before you.’

28 I tell you, among those born of women there is no one greater than John; yet the one who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.”

29 (All the people, even the tax collectors, when they heard Jesus’ words, acknowledged that God’s way was right, because they had been baptized by John. 30 But the Pharisees and the experts in the law rejected God’s purpose for themselves, because they had not been baptized by John.)

31 Jesus went on to say, “To what, then, can I compare the people of this generation? What are they like? 32 They are like children sitting in the marketplace and calling out to each other:

“‘We played the pipe for you, 

and you did not dance; 

we sang a dirge, 

and you did not cry.’ 

33 For John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon.’ 34 The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’ 35 But wisdom is proved right by all her children.”

• Colossians 2: 6-7 (NIV) 

Spiritual Fullness in Christ 

 

6 So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, 7 rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.

•  Isaiah 49: 15-16 (NIV) 

15 “Can a mother forget the baby at her breast 

 and have no compassion on the child she has borne? 

Though she may forget, I will not forget you! 

16 See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; 

 your walls are ever before me.

•  Romans 5: 6-8 (NIV) 

6 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.