The Ballestero Blog

Good For Nothing

The Master Chef added a bit more salt. He took his special spoon and tasted the sauce. It still didn’t taste right. He’d never had to put that much salt into this recipe before. What was wrong? He added another teaspoon of salt, and still he couldn’t taste it.

In frustration, the chef took a pinch of salt and touched his lips and his tongue. Nothing, but a grainy feeling, no salt taste! He took the container of salt and threw it into the trash. Then he reached into his pantry and found some more salt to finish his sauce.

Is this the story of a cook having a bad day in the kitchen? No, not really. It’s actually worse than that. It’s a story that comes close to home. It comes real close to home.

Matt. 5:13 Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.

As Holy Ghost filled people we are directly told right here that we are the salt of the earth. Our lives are to have a heavenly flavor that influences every thing we touch and everyone we come in contact with. The world becomes flavored and blessed just by our presence. That’s why God placed us where He did.

• Jacob’s presence greatly blessed Laban financially.
• Joseph’s presence in Egypt got them through the famine.
• Daniel’s presence in Babylon was God’s voice to a heathen world.

Imagine God using you to influence a person or even a group of people. As long as there is enough Holy Ghost difference in your life, you will be effective. God chose the effectiveness of you changed life to be a witness and a testimony to a lost world. People notice the difference the Holy Ghost makes in a life.

Salt has to be salty to be effective. If salt tastes the same as the food it’s put into, there will be no change. The same is true in your life. If you are just like the world, where’s the saltiness? Where is the difference?

• You dress like the world.
• You look like the world.
• You get the same things done at the beauty shop as the world does.
• You sing all the world’s songs.
• You know all the world’s ‘in’ phrases.
• You talk like the world.
• You know all the world’s movie stars.
• You go to the movies with the world.
• You go to the games with the world.
• You go to the wine shelf and buy alcohol like the world.
• You get upset and say the same words the world says.
• You commit adultery and fornication like the world.
• You tell others off like the world does.
• You wear immodest clothes like the world.
• Your pictures on Facebook look just like the worlds.
• Your interests on Facebook are the same as the worlds.
• You wear jewelry like the world.
• You wear makeup like the world.
• You wear clothes that show some of your breast like the world does.
• You wear form-fitting apparel that leaves nothing to the imagination like the world does.
• You were your tight dresses above you knees like  the world does.
• You lay out in the yard in a bathing suit like the world.
• You talk in a suggestive manner to the opposite sex like the world does.
• You women put on some form of pants like the world to go to the gym and work out.
• You men wear shorts like the world to play ball and work out.
• You talk all the sports talk like the world.
• You know all the sports statistics like the world.
• The world feels comfortable enough around you to tell you their jokes.
• The world feels safe around you and calls you one of the guys.

Too many have forgotten that although we are in the world, we are not to be of the world.

The bad news is, you have lost your saltiness. The bad news gets worse, there is no way you can be re-salted. Your testimony is history. It’s gone. It’s over. After you have done all that, how do you go about starting over and getting re-salted? I can’t help you, and even though I feel I am a preacher of mercy, the words of Jesus on the subject don’t seem to give a lot of hope.

According the Matt 5:13, The Master Chef is left with only one option when He finds that the salt is no longer salty. Salt that is no longer salty, is good for nothing.

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Addendum:

In response to personal queries concerning my intent:

It is not my wish to tell any backslider or a prodigal that they are ‘good for nothing’. Jesus readily reached for the wayward, as evidenced by the stories of the prodigal, the lost sheep, and the good Samaritan, etc. We willingly reach for them as well we should.

The point here is that while some claim to be in church, they still do all that the world does. Their testimony is not good anymore.They’ve lost their salt.

The folks we call Backsliders know they need to repent. Compromisers don’t and won’t.