“Salt is
good; but if the salt has lost its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is
neither fit for the land nor for the dunghill, but men throw it out. He who has
ears to hear, let him hear!” (Luke 14:34,35)
Meditation
from Luke 13, 14 & 15
Tasteless
salt is Worthless! “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its
flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown
out and trampled underfoot by men.” (Matthew 5:13)
Through the
chapters from 13 to 15 let’s see the signs from our life whether it’s like a
tasteless salt or tasteful life.
1.
Away-less (Abiding in God) –
The younger
son who goes away from the father, wasted the possessions that his father gave
and wasted his life (Luke 15:12-16). Away from the Father our life and what we
received from Him goes waste. We need to abide in and with God for our life to
be tasteful.
2.
Bondage-less –
A woman who
had a spirit of infirmity for eighteen years comes to Jesus (Luke 13:11). “So
ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has bound—think
of it—for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath?”
(13:16)
Addictions
are bondages and they make life worthless and fruitless. We need to come out of every bondage and we cannot do
through only our strength and we need to seek the Holy Spirit to deliver us from
all bondages. A bound life is a tasteless and worthless life.
3.
Cross-less –
“…whoever
does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.” (Luke
14:27).
We are called
to carry the cross and follow Jesus. What is to carry the cross?
“If anyone
comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children,
brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple.”
(14:26)
“…whoever
of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple.” (14:33)
If we truly
follow Jesus, there cannot be any relationship or possession or our own life which
we love more than Jesus. Bearing the cross is to forsake anything that takes
priority over Jesus. Either we carry the cross or we compromise, both cannot
go together.
4.
Distraction-less –
“But he was
angry and would not go in. Therefore his father came out and pleaded with him.
So he answered and said to his father, ‘Lo, these many years I have been
serving you; I never transgressed your commandment at any time; and yet you
never gave me a young goat, that I might make merry with my friends. But as
soon as this son of yours came, who has devoured your livelihood with harlots,
you killed the fatted calf for him.’” (Luke 15:28-30)
The elder
son was good for so many years and he gets distracted with an incident that
which isn’t even concerning him. We get distracted when we forget our calling
(who we are in Christ and what He has given us – Luke 15:31) and when we
begin to compare ourselves with others, whom we think are better provided
or treated than us.
Distractions
will take us away from the plan of God and make our life tasteless.
5.
Expectation-less –
“When you
are invited by anyone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in the best place,
lest one more honorable than you be invited by him; and he who invited you and
him come and say to you, ‘Give place to this man,’ and then you begin with
shame to take the lowest place.” (Luke 14,8,9)
“When you
give a dinner or a supper, do not ask your friends, your brothers, your
relatives, nor rich neighbors, lest they also invite you back, and you be repaid.
But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind. And
you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you; for you shall be repaid at
the resurrection of the just.” (Luke 14:12-14)
Jesus gives
an example of being invited to a feast and when we invite people to a feast. The
matter is to live without expectations. We should not got to any place with
expectation and we should not seek any person with expectation.
6.
Fruitless –
Like the man
in the parable in Luke 13:6, Jesus seeks fruit in our life. We are created and
called to bear fruit. One, the fruit of the Spirit, to demonstrate in our
character and the fruit of good works in God’s kingdom works. Both will benefit
and bless others. God gives chances for us to bear fruit, but if we fail even after
chances, we will be cut down (13:9).
Let us
commit ourselves to Jesus – to never stray away from the Father, to be
delieverd from all bondages, to carry our cross daily & follow Him, to
avoid every distraction, to live without expectations and to not be fruitless
but to bear fruit for God’s glory.
