If you’re reading this, I’ve been praying for you. I’ve been praying that you’ll be salty & lit at each of your Christmas gatherings this week. No, I am NOT praying that you’ll be grumpy and drunk. I’m praying that you’ll be salty & lit!
Why am I praying you’ll be salty?
Well, salt adds flavor, preserves, and creates thirst.
If you offer no worship, prayer, Scripture, comments about faith, or focus on the true meaning of Christmas… while putting great effort into meals, trees, decorations, and gifts, you’ll simply blend into a less than God-honoring cultural celebration. You’ll add no real flavor.
If you get overly religious and oversaturate less mature or committed friends and family, you’ll create no thirst for what you have. However, if you remember who you are and whose you are, if you focus on enhancing and preserving your relationships while celebrating Jesus, you’ll be salty.
Why am I praying you’ll be lit?
By “lit,” I am referring to reflecting the Light of the World to your friends and family this Christmas. You can be salty without being lit. You can take the weight and responsibility of trying to inject Jesus into your gatherings on your own. You can manipulate situations. You can try to control the agenda or conversations. But if you do, you’ll most likely feel overwhelmed, discouraged, and perhaps rejected, guilty, or ashamed. That’s why I’m not praying you’ll be just salty!
The key to being salty is being lit. We get lit when we focus on Jesus. We get lit when our personal connection with Jesus is intentional and consistent. Think about the way sunlight reflects off glass. The glass makes no effort. It must simply be in the right place at the right time. The sun does the work. In the same way, when our personal connection with Jesus is intentional and consistent, the Holy Spirit within us does the work. He reflects the character of Jesus through us with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. He gives us the eyes and ears to recognize the opportunities and the words and actions to reflect the love of Jesus to our loved ones.
Then, we become salty & lit - adding flavor, preserving relationships, and creating thirst.
Merry Christmas!
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
Galatians 5:22-23
