Love Is Salt to the Thirsty
By Jon Walker
“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” John 13:34–35 (NIV)
Love is salt to the thirsty. People don’t become thirsty for rules; they become thirsty for the streams of living water that flow from Jesus through those who carry Christ within (John 7:38; John 4:10).
We are the salt of the earth, but we lose our saltiness when we lose our love (Matthew 5:13). And the whole world is watching how that love plays out, particularly from one believer to another. If people filled with Jesus-life can’t get along and show the most basic tenets of love for each other, then why should the world be interested in having Jesus in them?
If we let Jesus-love flow through us, flooding the lives of those within our Christ-community, then the world will see a love so authentic and contagious that it attracts them to the Jesus in us.
We prove Jesus-life is in us by the way we love one another, not the rules we keep. The people of this world are thirsty for love, not lists. They’re thirsty for acceptance, not condemnation. They’re thirsty for the love God gives through us.
There’s a tendency to teach that Christian saltiness is about preserving society from decay; therefore, we emphasize the rules and regulations. But salt is also a purifying agent: God-love purifies by using the blood of Jesus to scrub the nastiness of our sin away.
If you’d like to receive these devotionals regularly, you can sign-up at www.gracecreates.com/subscribe/. Jon Walker writes from www.gracecreates.com. He is a Zondervan author, and the former writer/editor of the Purpose Driven Life On-Line Devotionals. This devotional is copyrighted 2008 by Jon Walker. Used by permission.
