Square Peg in a Round World

Walking with Jesus: To Capernaum
Mark 9: 49-50: The Value of Salt

49 "Everyone's going through a refining fire sooner or later, 50 but you'll be well-preserved, protected from the eternal flames. Be preservatives yourselves. Preserve the peace."

Luke 14:34 says, "Salt is good, but if salt has lost its tastes, how can its saltiness be restored?"

In the notes of one of my Study Bibles this is what it says...As salt is valuable to give flavor and to preserve from corruption, believers and the church must be godly examples in the world and must resist the moral decay and corruption evident in society. (1) Churches that become lukewarm, quench the power of the Holy Spirit and cease to resist the prevailing spirit in the world will be "thrown out" by God (2) They consequently will be "tramped by men"; those who are lukewarm will be destroyed by the ways and values of an ungodly society....

Yesterday was not a good day for me. I felt "tramped by men". My heart was broken. I could have so easily "trampled" back but God answered the prayer of a desperate woman to show Christ love to them. If I would have done what I "felt" like doing, I would have quench the power of the Holy Spirit and my Christian example would have been much less than "lukewarm". Today is a new day. It is my chose on how to live it. Am I going to give in the worldly ways or am I going to continue to be a "square peg in a round world"?

Father, give me a tender heart today. Let me do loving things that surprise even myself. Let me stop daily to talk to people who need a good word. Let me mend what is broken and to touch what needs to be loved. Make me more aware of the tiny surprises that are scattered like secrets all around me. Let me notice such things as I have forgotten, and those persons of whom I have grown weary with. May I see them in a new way so that I have a new word for them. As I busily set out to do the large tasks, my I find more time for small celebrations. Jesus, give me the grace to live out each day as though it were a gift. Holy Spirit, surprise me often. Then let me show my great surprise as I keep walking.....



“Hear my cry, O God; listen to my prayer. From the ends of the earth I call to you, I call as my heart grows faint; lead me to the rock that is higher than I. For you have been my refuge, a strong tower against the foe. I long to dwell in your tent forever and take refuge in the shelter of your wings.” Psalm 61:1-4 (NIV)