Salt

The following musings were inspired by and a little paraphrased from C.S. Lewis's "Mere Christianity."

Jesus is like salt. 

When you put salt on watermelon, it tastes sweeter. When you put salt on chicken, it tastes more savory. Salt brings out the flavor of whatever it's added to. (Unless you put a lot, A LOT of salt and then the thing just tastes salty. All parables have their limits, but I'll continue to muse on this one.)

Now let's take another seasoning like mint. Mint lends its overpowering flavor to anything in comes in contact with. Have you ever put peppermint patties in the same bag as, say, M&Ms? The M&Ms, though plain, come out tasting minty.

Some of my dear brothers and sisters think Jesus is like mint. You put him on and you smell just like every other Christian out there. Overly polite, Jesus t-shirt wearing, KLOVE listening, guitar playing Christians.

There are some things that all Christians should have in common, like the fruit of the Spirit and unity. Matching t-shirts are not one of them.

And I think this is why some of us struggle with transparency and true fellowship. We think, "Sunday morning, let's put on our Jesus masks."

But Jesus is like salt.

Or some of us, I've heard it said, try to be holier than Jesus. We taste a little too salty, like the whole shaker spilled onto your french fries. Let's not forget Jesus turned water into wine, threw over tables in the house of God, and ate with sinners and tax collectors.

Jesus is like just the right pinch of salt in a golden caramel sauce.

Jesus brings out the best in each of us.