Daily Journal: 26 January

Flavourful Living

Some flavours in cooking work together and enhance each other. All flavours can be overpowering if not used with knowledge and discretion. If food has no discernible flavour of its own, it needs salt to enhance its natural flavour and make it more enjoyable.

The bible speaks of the need to use salt in Old Testament sacrifices for flavour, aroma and taste. Sacrifices of this nature were by God’s own prescription and were required to be pleasing to Him.

Why is flavourful living so important to God, as a form of worship and sacrifice?

Matthew 5:13 (NCV)

“You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its salty taste, it cannot be made salty again. It is good for nothing, except to be thrown out and walked on.

Our flavourful living fits a divine purpose that God has given each of us. It has eternal consequences.

Salt is a purifying and preserving agent. First, our thoughts and choices, our heart attitudes, need to be measured by the salt in God's Word. Our life is required to demonstrate His divine precepts and then, influence and preserve those around us towards godly living. We are to allow the work of the Holy Spirit to purify us so that we do not become corrupted, thrown out and trampled on.

There is a story in the bible of a town that was a nice place to live but it had bad water and the people couldn’t grow crops. They went to Elisha for help. He asked for a bowl of salt.

2 King 2:21 (NET)

He went out to the spring and threw the salt in. Then he said, “This is what the Lord has said, ‘I have purified this water. It will no longer cause death or fail to produce crops.’”

Do you need to be separated from anything? Is your life, your thoughts, your attitudes of the heart, your motivations, needing to be purified? Do you need to consider how your life is a preserving agent to those around you? Are you considering the everlasting effects of your flavourful living?

Take a few moments to reflect on your saltiness and your purification process. Do a stocktake with the Lord and hear what the Holy Spirit would say to you. Recommit to following His lead and find joy in the possibility of bringing fuller flavour to God's table.

Psalm 34:8 (NLT)

Taste and see that the Lord is good. Oh, the joys of those who take refuge in him!