The Body of Christ: Revisited
(This is the second excerpt of the Lord’s revelation on how my illness is related to the Body of Christ as a whole. For those who have not yet read the first part, please see “The Body of Christ” article, 2/14/07)
One of the mysteries of my illness is that I tend to dehydrate despite to unusual amounts of liquids I imbibe. This dangerous scenario has landed me in the emergency room numerous of times, and has always puzzled the doctors. It makes little sense why a young girl, who no doubt drinks the amount of water, which rivals with that of a camel, should still remain “dry.” As a result of this dehydration, my electrolytes, which include sodium and potassium, become imbalanced, making it imperative that I am immediately “IV-ed” with the appropriate amounts of whichever I am missing. Most of the time, my level of sodium is extremely low, and I tend to crave voraciously an excessive amount of salt on all of my food, no matter how “salty” that dish might be.
As I pondered this phenomenon this morning, the Lord started to reveal to me something quite relevant to His Bride. The Church as a whole is “dry.” Despite the pastors’ and teachers’ valiant efforts to provide her with adamant amounts of the Water of His Word, her thirst remains unquenched. The Word is not absorbing. As a result of her “dehydration,” she is desperately lacking the “sodium” or “saltiness” necessary to thrive.
What does this look like in our Church today? First of all, Christ has called us to be “the salt of the earth.”[1] What does it mean to be “salt”? We see the evidence of “saltiness” in our speech,
“Let your speech at all times be gracious (pleasant and winsome), seasoned [as it were] with salt, [so that you may never be at a loss] to know how you ought to answer anyone [who puts a question to you].”[2]
“Let no foul or polluting language, nor evil word nor unwholesome or worthless talk [ever] come out of your mouth, but only such [speech] as is good and beneficial to the spiritual progress of others, as is fitting to the need and the occasion, that it may be a blessing and give grace (God's favor) to those who hear it.”[3]
And in our behavior,
“Have salt within yourselves, and be at peace and live in harmony with one another.”[4]
There are a couple of revelations that the Lord showed me in these references. First, salt is characterized by grace.[2, 3] We are lacking the power of God’s grace in the church. There is a lot of dead works or religious acts operating in the church, but little are done out of the Lord’s leading. People stick with their traditions of what they believe is “religious” behavior, whether it be praying 10 min. everyday, memorizing four verses a week, or even attending every church service; but none of these “rituals” are done out of their love for the Lord, or by the leading of the Holy Spirit. The power of grace, which is the ability to do the impossible as the Spirit leads, has been lost in the majority of the Church.
Secondly, and I believe this is key, the majority of the Church today is not “in the Word” individually. Despite all of the sermons and teaching tapes, unless we as individuals get in the “Word of God” for ourselves, we will remain salt-less and dry in our walk with the Lord.
How can we expect to give out “salt” if we do not consume it first? “Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.”[5] If we do not partake of the Word, which is Jesus, we can never suppose that we will sound like Him or behave like Him. Until we, on the individual level, get into the Word of God for ourselves, and fall in love with Him for ourselves, not through our pastors or teachers or mentors, we will remain “dehydrated,” “dry,” and “flavorless” Christians.
We will not be beneficial to those we encounter [3]; we will not seize every opportunity to reach out to strangers[6]; we will not know how to respond to those who ask us about our faith or hope[7] because, quite frankly, we have none, or we sure don’t show it.
I know that I have become pretty didactic in this article, but I feel the importance of this truth in the most personal way. Suffering severe dehydration has caused havoc for myself, and my family. I know the dangers that dehydration can have upon one’s physical body-it can be fatal if not properly rectified. How much more so for Christ’s Beloved! I’m not trying to condemn or chastise-I write this from the bottom of my heart and plead with all who read this excerpt- we have to get into the Word of God! Without His Word saturating our hearts, we will dry out, whither, and lose the abundant life God so longs to give to us!
“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.” (Matt. 5:13)
One of the mysteries of my illness is that I tend to dehydrate despite to unusual amounts of liquids I imbibe. This dangerous scenario has landed me in the emergency room numerous of times, and has always puzzled the doctors. It makes little sense why a young girl, who no doubt drinks the amount of water, which rivals with that of a camel, should still remain “dry.” As a result of this dehydration, my electrolytes, which include sodium and potassium, become imbalanced, making it imperative that I am immediately “IV-ed” with the appropriate amounts of whichever I am missing. Most of the time, my level of sodium is extremely low, and I tend to crave voraciously an excessive amount of salt on all of my food, no matter how “salty” that dish might be.
As I pondered this phenomenon this morning, the Lord started to reveal to me something quite relevant to His Bride. The Church as a whole is “dry.” Despite the pastors’ and teachers’ valiant efforts to provide her with adamant amounts of the Water of His Word, her thirst remains unquenched. The Word is not absorbing. As a result of her “dehydration,” she is desperately lacking the “sodium” or “saltiness” necessary to thrive.
What does this look like in our Church today? First of all, Christ has called us to be “the salt of the earth.”[1] What does it mean to be “salt”? We see the evidence of “saltiness” in our speech,
“Let your speech at all times be gracious (pleasant and winsome), seasoned [as it were] with salt, [so that you may never be at a loss] to know how you ought to answer anyone [who puts a question to you].”[2]
“Let no foul or polluting language, nor evil word nor unwholesome or worthless talk [ever] come out of your mouth, but only such [speech] as is good and beneficial to the spiritual progress of others, as is fitting to the need and the occasion, that it may be a blessing and give grace (God's favor) to those who hear it.”[3]
And in our behavior,
“Have salt within yourselves, and be at peace and live in harmony with one another.”[4]
There are a couple of revelations that the Lord showed me in these references. First, salt is characterized by grace.[2, 3] We are lacking the power of God’s grace in the church. There is a lot of dead works or religious acts operating in the church, but little are done out of the Lord’s leading. People stick with their traditions of what they believe is “religious” behavior, whether it be praying 10 min. everyday, memorizing four verses a week, or even attending every church service; but none of these “rituals” are done out of their love for the Lord, or by the leading of the Holy Spirit. The power of grace, which is the ability to do the impossible as the Spirit leads, has been lost in the majority of the Church.
Secondly, and I believe this is key, the majority of the Church today is not “in the Word” individually. Despite all of the sermons and teaching tapes, unless we as individuals get in the “Word of God” for ourselves, we will remain salt-less and dry in our walk with the Lord.
How can we expect to give out “salt” if we do not consume it first? “Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.”[5] If we do not partake of the Word, which is Jesus, we can never suppose that we will sound like Him or behave like Him. Until we, on the individual level, get into the Word of God for ourselves, and fall in love with Him for ourselves, not through our pastors or teachers or mentors, we will remain “dehydrated,” “dry,” and “flavorless” Christians.
We will not be beneficial to those we encounter [3]; we will not seize every opportunity to reach out to strangers[6]; we will not know how to respond to those who ask us about our faith or hope[7] because, quite frankly, we have none, or we sure don’t show it.
I know that I have become pretty didactic in this article, but I feel the importance of this truth in the most personal way. Suffering severe dehydration has caused havoc for myself, and my family. I know the dangers that dehydration can have upon one’s physical body-it can be fatal if not properly rectified. How much more so for Christ’s Beloved! I’m not trying to condemn or chastise-I write this from the bottom of my heart and plead with all who read this excerpt- we have to get into the Word of God! Without His Word saturating our hearts, we will dry out, whither, and lose the abundant life God so longs to give to us!
“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.” (Matt. 5:13)
[1] Matt. 5:13
[2] Col. 4:6 AMP
[3] Eph. 4:29 AMP
[4] Mk. 9:50
[5] Matt. 12:34
[6] Col. 4:5
[7] 1. Pet. 3:15
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