Staying Salty in a Dicey World

UV 1213/10,000 Staying Salty in a Dicey World
For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning
2 Peter 2 v 20

The world is polluted and corrupted. It is by the knowledge of Jesus as our Lord and Saviour that we have escaped the pollutions and corruption that arise from one or other variation or combination of pride of life, lust of the flesh and lust of the eye. The plural of the word ‘pollution’ is used uncommonly as there are various types of pollution and corruption. The lordship, leadership and salvation provided by Jesus is powerful enough for us to defeat these influences of the world. But if we do not strive to stay salty and become entangled again in these influences, we end up worse than we were before. It is better not to know Jesus and stay as we were than to know Him like Judas and get entangled like him in the death noose of self destruction.

Staying salty implies that we should keep the paths straight for the Lord to move in our lives. We must avoid small compromises that lead us to the big snare of evil. A leech can be separated from the foot of a person to whom it is latched by applying salt around it. The salt repels and repulses it causing it to release its grip on the skin of the person. Similarly, the Word of God is what separates us from the world of man. It is the salt that makes the blood or life-sucking leech let go of us. We ought not to stay in a place of temptation but flee like Joseph did from Potiphera’s wife but unlike him try to keep our clothes on. The recent sad story of the fall into adultery of the co-founder of God TV is a case in point to illustrate ways to stay salty. Given his relative youth and the propensity to fall into this kind of a snare and the large number of interactions and attraction he would exert on members of the opposite sex, he should have set up certain natural safeguards to never be alone in a space with a single woman. Staying salty is a great challenge not only to the young and immature but to those who have served God over many decades.

Having known Jesus as Lord, leader and Saviour, we need to hasten to do many good deeds that will elevate our lives like a city on a hill. Each uni-verse or each portion of scripture is a straight pathway we can and should follow all our living lives, ‘can’ meaning it is practical and practicable and ‘should’ implying that it is good and best for our own well being. We need to grow and glow like a lighthouse on a hill overlooking the rocky cliff and the perilous sea. We need to be the beacon-light to show the path to many who are now intent on the path of self destruction while taking care that our own light is not put out from within, that we do not depart from the pathways of righteousness.

Prateep V Philip