Thursday, May 25, 2006

May 24, 2006

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 by men. Matthew 5:13


Who are you? Jesus makes it very clear that as a follower of Jesus, we are to be salt in our communities. That is, we are to, with our lives, act as a preservative as well as exist to enhance and upgrade our culture. This is obviously done by accessing the power available to us from the resurrected Christ and outliving our generation (Romans 8:9-11).

Sadly, that is not happening today and in most cultural statistics (divorce, marital satisfaction, extra-marital sexuality, viewing habits etc…), Christians are mirroring our culture. Brothers and sisters, this is something that just shouldn’t be!

Given the last paragraph, it is no surprise that at this time our country is debating the Biblical covenant of marriage and that in most communities, attempts to redefine marriage are taking place. Please hear me on this, I wholeheartedly believe that if we as followers of Jesus (according to George Barna, 40% of Americans claim to be born again Christians—that is a lot of salt!)1, were obedient to God’s blueprint for marriage, we wouldn’t be facing the crisis we face. The fact is, as a follower of Jesus, our first response should be to come to God in humility and confess our part in not honoring God’s design and covenant for marriage (2 Chronicles 7:14).

But that is not to be our only response! I would ask you next to pray! Pray for men and women in our church to honor their covenant vows in marriage! Pray for people who are not married in our church to stay pure! Pray that, regardless of people’s life stage, we would all honor marriage! (Hebrews 13:4) Pray for an awakening in our nation that is much needed and long overdue!

Next, I would ask you to pray about joining the conversation, and, with wisdom and compassion, contacting our political representatives. Humbly and compassionately be salt, speaking up for the Biblical design of marriage. In early June, the US Senate will be addressing this very issue. This is not a partisan issue—marriage is a Biblical issue and regardless of your political leanings, as a follower of Jesus, we are all called to be pro-marriage! We live in a participatory democracy, so as issues like this are being debated in government, we should be active and involved. You can easily get information about how to contact your representatives by clicking here.

Ultimately, God is concerned about the souls of men and women. So, while we ought to be concerned about the direction in which our culture is headed, we must make sure we express our biblical convictions as well as our cultural concerns in a way that reflects the character and glory of God (1 Peter 2:12, Col 3:12, 14).