The Seasons in the Life of a Christian- Brokenness - Cleansing & At the cross - Chapter I. (4,5)

Written and posted by Jean-Louis Mondon. http://thelightseed.blogspot.com
(To read the preceding and following chapters, click on the right lateral bar on the numbered chapters under the title "The Seasons in the Life of a Christian" - Brokenness.)

4. Cleansing through the fire of affliction

However, salt before it can be used, has to go through the process of being made pure. As soon as salt gets in contact with humidity, its inherent absorbing quality, just like a sponge sucking in water, causes it to be polluted by whatever impurity is in the water.

Talking about salt again, but this time in the context of people causing believers to sin, Jesus clarifies the issue of purity when He says:

“For every one shall be salted with fire, and every sacrifice shall be salted with salt. Salt is good: but if the salt have lost his saltiness, wherewith will ye season it? Have salt in yourselves, and have peace one with another. ”(Mark 9:49-50).

How is the Lord going to make the salt in us pure? 

Through the fire of affliction. Malachi 3:3 states:

“And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the LORD an offering in righteousness.”

Do we have peace with one another?

Peace in the body of Christ does not just happen. Paul in Ephesians exhorts us to make every effort to keep unity of the spirit through the bond of peace. We already have unity if we are in Christ, the hard part is to keep it. Isaiah 48:17-18 states:

“Thus saith the LORD, thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; I am the LORD thy God which teacheth thee to profit, which leadeth thee by the way that thou shouldest go. O that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments! then had thy peace been as a river, and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea”.

Our Lord Jesus gave us a new commandment, “That ye love one another, as I have loved you.” (John 15:12). I believe that a great deal of what is hindering the work of God in our communities stems from the lack of the bond of peace in the Christians’ relationships, between spouses, parents and children, Christian brothers and sisters and churches of different or same denomination. (Here I am not talking ecumenical unity, but of the unity of the Spirit between true followers of Christ) Is the water of our city brackish? Is the relationship among Christians in our city one of love, peace and unity or are we trying to cover up the lack of reality in our lives, the hurts, discord, bitterness and resentment with our Sunday smiles?

Following the example of the prophet Elisha, how could we make the city water that came from the spring (the inner spiritual flow) sweet and the land (our lives) productive again?

By letting the Lord cleanse us (the bowl or vessel), and purify the salt in us as we gladly accept the cleansing  fire of affliction and trials without bitterness. The quickest way for salt to penetrate hard, unproductive soil is to be diluted and poured out on it and that is just what we Christians can do with our tears.

Father, according to your Word in Psalm 56:8 your servant David asked you to put his tears in a bottle. May we see your hand in our affliction and accept its cleansing purpose for our lives. We, your church, ask you through the power of your Holy Spirit to create in us a pure heart, release our tears that you have collected in these broken vessels and pour them on the dry and hard hearts that they might be softened just as your rain falls on the just and the unjust to soften the earth and causes things to grow.

5. The level ground at the cross

Then, the farmer must level the surface of the ground (v.25), so the seeds will

all start germinating at the same level to make sure that the final crop will be as

even as possible. We all have to start at Ground Zero,

 “at the cross where we first saw the light

and the burden of our hearts rolled away

 it was there by faith

we received our sight…”

Our Lord Jesus was crucified between the two thieves. But actually the thief that turned to Jesus and cried out to Him for help was himself in the center of the battleground between two attitudes and choices that were represented at Calvary. The first one of bitterness, cynicism, mockery, empty bravado from the thief who rejected the precious gift of life, and the other one of forgiveness, indomitable courage, total acceptance of His Father’s will from the Lord Jesus who is and has the gift of eternal life. The ground was most fertile at the foot of the cross where it had been plowed by the soldier’s shovels who dug the hole and was watered by the blood of the sacrificed pure lamb of God and the water of His tears mixed with the salt contained in His body. The ground was the same, the tears, the blood, the gift equally available to each one of the thieves, but one chose life in forgiveness and the other one death in bitterness. For us, the choice is still the same today.

(“Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus’ side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water” John 19:34)

To be continued.