Christian
believers and practitioners
are both designed and designated to be like salt in a world in need of preservation from the
rotten influences of wickedness and evil. And it is true, practicing Christ-followers who speak out and act
contrary to declining socio-moral trends do have varying degrees of influence
in retarding the decay of a society's moral fabric.
In the face of
increasing moral decay in America and the world, we hear an increasing number
of sermons that seem to blame non-practicing Christian believers, in part, for
this decay. No doubt, this is an
important factor. However, salt's
influence is only designed for a (limited) time. No amount of salt, irrespective of its
quality, can preserve a slab or meat....forever! Eventually, decay will win the day, so to
speak, and that slab of meat will/will stink and return to the base
elements of ... dirt, facilitated by worms.
With a rapidly
growing world population and proportionately fewer practicing Christ-followers,
the 'writing is on the wall', or rather 'in
the Book'. Rather than pointing a
finger of blame, or cursing the increasing darkness all around us, of course,
we should enhance and share our saltiness and ignite a light where ever we can,
but more importantly, we need to recognize the world is simply following the script and
pre-determinations of our Creator.
Here is an
interesting perspective on what could be called the 'Iterative Right-ness/Rottenness
Syndrome':
·
God established His Heaven, and eventually
rebellious rottenness was found among a significant cohort of angels. He excommunicated the rottenness, saved a
remnant of angels, and restored full right-ness in Heaven.
·
God established earth in right-ness, and
eventually, rebellious rottenness was found therein. He excommunicated mankind and his sinful
rottenness from His Garden of Eden, and promised to restore right-ness on the earth,
saving a remnant in the process. This
restoration promise and process is being fulfilled iteratively via the right-ness/rottenness
cycle.
·
As you quickly scan human history, consider the
many, many times and ways in which right-ness was re-established, only to
succumb to eventual rottenness, triggering some form of excommunication of the
rottenness and salvation of a remnant, only to have the cycle repeat
iteratively.
This cycle is
reflected, not only in human history, but also in nearly every aspect of
physical life and existence across the universe. Though it is an iterative, reflective cycle, it
does have a culmination, as briefly described in
the last two chapters of The Book of Revelation. Read ‘em and re-Joy-ce! Righteousness wins, and will be permanently established,
un-shakably.
So of course, endeavor
to enhance your saltiness, ignite a light wherever you can, and don’t overly
criticize the available amount and distribution of ‘right-ness salt’ in our
world. It’s doing its assigned job – for a (limited) time.
Does this help to put
in a clearer light "What's (really) Going On?" in our world?
