Am I a Savory Christian?

We were going to need to go to Henderson Friday night. It was our date night. I had heard about a new restaurant in Henderson so when we were deciding where to go eat I mentioned it to Dan.  Great location, excellent reviews, and boasting southern comfort food.  He was all in. We arrived early, but still had to wait. It was a Friday night after all. 

As we sat down and as  I began to look at the menu, it was like a blast from my past. Food items from my childhood began calling out to me from the menu. Pimento cheese, salmon patties, fried chicken, grits (not just any grits but pimento cheese grits!), southern style green beans, sweet potato casserole… and then I saw it…. LOW COUNTRY greens! That settled it! This WAS my childhood. Someone had brought the low country cuisine of South Carolina to Henderson, KY. I confirmed this with the waitress. If this was a dream, I did not want to be awakened! Food from the low country of South Carolina where I grew up had been brought to a place in Kentucky not more than a half hour from my current home!  

Needless to say, it was an incredibly savory and tasty meal for me. My favorite was a side of their sweet potato casserole. Just like I remembered from my childhood. You could say I had an obsession with sweet potato casserole when I was a child. Anytime we would have a church potluck, there would be multiple versions of it throughout the vast smorgasbord of food. I would try each dish of the casserole. Once I found THE one, I’d go back for more.  The sweet potato casserole at Hometown Roots was THE one!! Srumptuous in every way!

Yes, I highly recommend Hometown Roots in Henderson, KY. I obviously want to tell everyone about my tasty and savory experience. But restaurant reviews and recommendations are not the purpose of this blog. So I digress. . .

The whole experience got me thinking, “Am I a savory Christian?”

“Salt is good: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be seasoned? It is neither fit for the land, nor yet for the dunghill; but men cast it out. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.” (Luke 14:34-35)

Just a few days prior to this great dining experience,  I was reading, meditating on and praying through these two verses. Here are just a few things I wrote down in my prayer journal:

• Salt is good! As Christians we are the salt of the earth. (Matthew 5:13) During the time that God has placed us in our homes, our churches and our community we are to be making a difference for good.

• We are to flavor or season our world with Christ and the Gospel. The most effective Christians are surrendered Christians. Christians who are willing to bear their cross and follow Christ (Luke 14:27).  I saw on a church sign recently,  “Wearing a cross will not take the place of bearing your cross.” Surrender is the key to a savory life for Christ.

• Without true discipleship we become tasteless Christians and end up with a wasted life.  Luke 14:35 teaches us that tasteless salt is good for nothing. In verses 18 - 20 of this same chapter, we read a parable about those who made excuses and would not come to a great supper. When we make excuses about why we cannot follow Christ, we are on the path to becoming a tasteless Christian having little effect for Christ in the world around us.

• Salt is not only a preserver of food, but it is also known to bring a satisfying factor to food that makes the meal enjoyable. This made me wonder if I make being a Christian enjoyable and satisfying to those around me? When people get a taste of me/my life do they see and say that God is good? 

Salt is most important in our conversation with lost people in our families and community. Our time on this earth is short. 

“Walk in wisdom toward them that are without, redeeming the time. Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man.” (Colossians 4:5-6)

Bruce and Sammy Frye sing a song I like to play during Eleven2One on Faith Music Radio. It is called The Lord Is Good. You can hear it on YouTube here. This particular song has a beautiful gospel message with a call for the lost to come as they are to taste the forgiveness and mercy of God. “O come with me, O come and see the Lord is good,” is the heart cry of the song. Often while listening I am reminded of this verse:

“O taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him.” (Psalm 34:8)

When something tastes sooooo good we want to tell everyone we know about it. 

As the salt of the earth, our Christian life should be both tasty and savory, calling out to all, “O come with me, O come and see, the Lord is good!”