Salty Sacrifices

Mark 9:48–50 (YLT)

48where their worm is not dying, and the fire is not being quenched; 49for everyone with fire shall be salted, and every sacrifice with salt shall be salted. 50 The salt is good, but if the salt may become saltless, in what will ye season it? Have in yourselves salt, and have peace in one another.’

Explain / Examine

Jesus was just telling His disciples to deal harshly with sin in our lives. That there is a choice of two fires. One now that is inside us, burning for Him. The second is the eternal torment of non-believers. Those of that fire burning inside them now are covered with a covenant or salted living sacrifices. But when we lose our saltiness, what good are we? We are no longer living as a sacrifice. We have started to live for ourselves and not at peace with anyone. We are no longer good examples of Christlikeness or the Kingdom of God.

How do I apply this to my life?

How salty am I? How harshly do I deal with sinful areas of my life? Am I being an excellent example of Christlikeness and the Kingdom of God by being a living sacrifice? I was reminded last night on a YouTube short that a sacrifice isn’t a sacrifice until it feels like we are sacrificing something. We have it too easy. We are hardly persecuted. We have the freedom to go to church almost every day of the week. We do what we want, when we want, and with little regard or sacrifice to God. We are an entitled people who are teaching the following generations how to be more entitled. How am I breaking that chain, that legacy? Do I even see all the sinful areas of my life? Do I acknowledge the areas that I need help in? Or do I turn a blind eye and keep trudging through the mire, crying for help but never taking Jesus’s hand that is right in front of me? Sacrifice! How are we doing? Do see Jesus as Lord of Life! Savior? Easy. LORD, that is a little harder. We want to be kings of our kingdoms. We want what we want, and no one will tell us what to do. Pride! We must learn submission. We must bow down to our LORD and Savior, not bow down to our flesh and sin.

What is my response?

Father, I am human. I fail at following Christ. I fail at serving You. I fail to live a life that has Jesus as LORD of it. I need Your help. In my weakness, I know You are strong. You can carry me through anything, but the first step is always submitting to Your authority in my life. I have no control over anything except to choose a life of dying daily. I must start every single day with the thought, “How am I going to die today?” Well, what sinful nature is tripping me up? What thing do I hold on to that I put before You? I must conscientiously make the choice to choose You over whatever it is! I’m going to fail. But You will be there when I fall. You are there to say “Try again.” You don’t say to try harder next time, but be who I called you to be. My child. That’s where I want to live. I just need to see it every day. I hope that I can. Amen.