The Salt Test

I cannot take credit for any of this post... it is a direct copy and paste from my devotional this morning... but it was really powerful and struck a cord in me. It deserved to be shared. 

You are the salt of the earth (Matthew 5:13, NLT).

Dear Friends:

In a previous message, I shared some insights about the late J. C. Penney, a remarkable man and a personal friend.

Penney believed in doing business according to the words of our Lord and the principles of the Golden Rule. To Penney, the Golden Rule represented more than a marketing strategy. It represented his deep philosophical and religious beliefs learned from his father, a Baptist minister. As an expression of the Golden Rule, he insisted on offering customers quality merchandise at the lowest possible prices. Eventually the Golden Rule name he used was phased out and the stores were named JCPenney.

For many years, Penney was active in a church layman's movement and made many appearances before churches and laymen's groups stressing the importance of applying the Golden Rule to the everyday tasks of business.

But Penney also believed in a unique executive hiring criterion: the "salt test."

When selecting new managers, the founder of one of the nation's largest retail chains often took the candidates out to eat where he scrutinized their behavior. Many passed the inspection, but others were disqualified by violating Penney's cardinal rule: "Never salt your food before tasting it."

Salting before tasting, Penny believed, revealed the flaw of making decisions without information. If you are going to use a strong flavor enhancer, he reasoned, you must first know your food.

Of course, using salt as a hiring test is a debatable methodology, yet we can agree with J.C. Penny on at least this much: Salt changes the taste of what it touches.

Salt is not neutral. It adds flavor and appeal. It penetrates and transforms the character of food. As a preservative, it prolongs the life of food which otherwise would perish.

This is what our Lord had in mind when he said to His followers: "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, NIV).

As the "salt of the earth," we Christians have the power to change the world. By being Christ's witnesses and salt, we can help influence the flavor of people's lives and enhance their relationships. We can help preserve morality in a decaying society.

Let us not lose our saltiness and be trampled by the world's philosophies and values, but instead, like salt, let us penetrate and transform the character of life around us.

Yours for fulfilling the Great Commission
each year until our Lord returns,

Bill Bright

Chorus Christians

For all of you at Liberty... or in any "modern church" for that matter... have you ever stopped singing and just watched people during the praise songs in Convo or Campus church? I've been doing this more and more recently... its rather comical... and entirely predictable.

As one of my friends said the other day... they're Chorus Christians... or they only are "Spirit-filled" when the band is playing G-chords. As soon as the key changes, or the beat picks up, up shoots the hands.

Tim Hawkins, one of my all-time favorite speaker, comedian, and person in general has some really good videos on Worship Styles, Worship Songs, and others.

 However, this post isn't intended to hurt anyone's feelings. If you choose to worship by raising your arms while singing, that's all fine and good. I do it too sometimes. The main intent of this post is to get you to think about something...  

What are you worshiping when you're singing?

Are you worshiping the song?
The band playing them that sounds really good?
The words of the song?  
Or are you worshiping the One the song is really about?

I've taken a step back in the past few months and evaluated my worship, especially in places of corporate worship. In all honesty, the songs are shallow, the lyrics barely graze the surface of what God has done for us.

One of my biggest pet peeves is when the songs make it sound like you're singing to a boyfriend or girlfriend rather than to our awesome Savior and the Creator of the Universe. "When Heaven meets earth like an unforeseen kiss." Really? Those lyrics don't even make sense. (I do like that song, but that one line just bugs the bejeebies out of me). It was even worse when one band decided to change it to a sloppy wet kiss. What is wrong with our society today?!

What happened to the hymns? The ones with so much depth, and meaning, heartache and love that just seeps out of the lyrics when they're sung. Have you ever read the stories behind those hymns? It Is Well With My Soul was written after Horatio Spafford lost his four daughters in the sinking of the S.S. Ville de Havre in 1873 and seven years later also lost his 4 year old son to a childhood illness. Out of tragedy came a beautiful song that has impacted millions of people.

How about one of the most well-known songs of this day and age - Amazing Grace. Did you know that the original writer, John Newton, was the captain of a slave ship? It was during a horrific storm on May 10, 1748 that he had what he called his "conversion experience." Later, he wrote the hymn Amazing Grace, which had more verses added to by other writers throughout the years. He became a famous preacher and his life has touched millions of lives. The messages behind these beautiful songs are so much more powerful and meaningful than some of the songs we sing in "worship" today.

What are you worshiping? Do you raise your hands because everyone else is, or are you really lifting your hands in praise to the One who is worthy of your worship?  
Search within your heart the next time you sing... ask your self why.

Describing God

Professor : You are a Christian, aren’t you, son ?
...
Student : Yes, sir.

Professor: So, you believe in GOD ?

Student : Absolutely, sir.

Professor : Is GOD good ?

Student : Sure.

Professor: Is GOD all powerful ?

Student : Yes.

Professor: My brother died of cancer even though he prayed to GOD to heal him. Most of us would attempt to help others who are ill. But GOD didn’t. How is this GOD good then? Hmm?

(Student was silent.)

Professor: You can’t answer, can you ? Let’s start again, young fella. Is GOD good?

Student : Yes.

Professor: Is satan good ?

Student : No.

Professor: Where does satan come from ?

Student : From … GOD …

Professor: That’s right. Tell me son, is there evil in this world?

Student : Yes.

Professor: Evil is everywhere, isn’t it ? And GOD did make everything. Correct?

Student : Yes.

Professor: So who created evil ?

(Student did not answer.)

Professor: Is there sickness? Immorality? Hatred? Ugliness? All these terrible things exist in the world, don’t they?

Student : Yes, sir.

Professor: So, who created them ?

(Student had no answer.)

Professor: Science says you have 5 Senses you use to identify and observe the world around you. Tell me, son, have you ever seen GOD?

Student : No, sir.

Professor: Tell us if you have ever heard your GOD?

Student : No , sir.

Professor: Have you ever felt your GOD, tasted your GOD, smelt your GOD? Have you ever had any sensory perception of GOD for that matter?

Student : No, sir. I’m afraid I haven’t.

Professor: Yet you still believe in Him?

Student : Yes.

Professor : According to Empirical, Testable, Demonstrable Protocol, Science says your GOD doesn’t exist. What do you say to that, son?

Student : Nothing. I only have my faith.

Professor: Yes, faith. And that is the problem Science has.

Student : Professor, is there such a thing as heat?

Professor: Yes.

Student : And is there such a thing as cold?

Professor: Yes.

Student : No, sir. There isn’t.

(The lecture theater became very quiet with this turn of events.)

Student : Sir, you can have lots of heat, even more heat, superheat, mega heat, white heat, a little heat or no heat. But we don’t have anything called cold. We can hit 458 degrees below zero which is no heat, but we can’t go any further after that. There is no such thing as cold. Cold is only a word we use to describe the absence of heat. We cannot measure cold. Heat is energy. Cold is not the opposite of heat, sir, just the absence of it.

(There was pin-drop silence in the lecture theater.)

Student : What about darkness, Professor? Is there such a thing as darkness?

Professor: Yes. What is night if there isn’t darkness?

Student : You’re wrong again, sir. Darkness is the absence of something. You can have low light, normal light, bright light, flashing light. But if you have no light constantly, you have nothing and its called darkness, isn’t it? In reality, darkness isn’t. If it is, well you would be able to make darkness darker, wouldn’t you?

Professor: So what is the point you are making, young man ?

Student : Sir, my point is your philosophical premise is flawed.

Professor: Flawed ? Can you explain how?

Student : Sir, you are working on the premise of duality. You argue there is life and then there is death, a good GOD and a bad GOD. You are viewing the concept of GOD as something finite, something we can measure. Sir, Science can’t even explain a thought. It uses electricity and magnetism, but has never seen, much less fully understood either one. To view death as the opposite of life is to be ignorant of the fact that death cannot exist as a substantive thing.

Death is not the opposite of life: just the absence of it. Now tell me, Professor, do you teach your students that they evolved from a monkey?

Professor: If you are referring to the natural evolutionary process, yes, of course, I do.

Student : Have you ever observed evolution with your own eyes, sir?

(The Professor shook his head with a smile, beginning to realize where the argument was going.)

Student : Since no one has ever observed the process of evolution at work and cannot even prove that this process is an on-going endeavor. Are you not teaching your opinion, sir? Are you not a scientist but a preacher?

(The class was in uproar.)

Student : Is there anyone in the class who has ever seen the Professor’s brain?

(The class broke out into laughter. )

Student : Is there anyone here who has ever heard the Professor’s brain, felt it, touched or smelt it? No one appears to have done so. So, according to the established Rules of Empirical, Stable, Demonstrable Protocol, Science says that you have no brain, sir. With all due respect, sir, how do we then trust your lectures, sir?

(The room was silent. The Professor stared at the student, his face unfathomable.)

Professor: I guess you’ll have to take them on faith, son.

Student : That is it sir … Exactly ! The link between man & GOD is FAITH. That is all that keeps things alive and moving.

By the way, that student was EINSTEIN.

It has never ceased to amaze me that people complicate things in life and choose alternatives to faith in Christ. It is such a sad and hopeless world we live in... 

Waiting on God - Day 15

Read: Psalm 106

The waters covered their adversaries;
Not one of them was left.
Then they believed His words;
They sang His praise.
They quickly forgot His works;
They did not wait for His counsel,
But craved intensely in the wilderness,
And tempted God in the desert.
v. 11-14

How often do we thank God when good things happen, but then "curse" God when things don't go our way? I know I've done it. Haven't we all? Why is it, that when we need God the most, we push Him away?
I never understood that.

Challenge: Try to consciously turn your thoughts towards God when things don't go "your way".