Cholesterol free seasonings

As many of you know by now I am psychotically attempting to memorize the Sermon on the Mount in a swift 130 days. That may seem quick but for me the longer it takes me the less likely I am to finish…I think that is a safe assumption for anyone though. The verse I am going over today is heavy on my heart I can’t shake it. It is Matthew 5:22

“But I tell you anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, Raca, is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says; ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of Hell.”

There is a lot going on in this verse, there are probably a few words that you don’t know or are easily misunderstood. That’s cool look them up later. I am in the same boat.

Jump into something with me and lets look at the statement, ‘You fool!’ The Greek word for ‘fool’ in this context is Moros, which stems from the word Moraino that means; to make foolish, show one foolish; to become a fool, be made a fool. Cool, I can deal with that, nothing about those descriptions gives me too much trouble except another description of this word ‘Fool’ or Moraino is “to become saltless, tasteless, inert.”

The description “Saltless or tasteless” is troubling to me. That one hits a nerve.

See, Jesus, 9 verses earlier called his followers the “Salt of the earth”. He was stating that we were the only hope to bring his flavor to earth and have it carried out, we are the hope that will make others lives taste good because of him. He is the seasoning inside of us. When we speak against one another we are trying to rip the Jesus out of each other. This is a harsh reality for me, sarcasm is my most fluent language and here Jesus is admonishing the fact that with each sarcastic twist of my tongue I am inching closer to the edge of hell because with each one of those statements I am choking the Jesus out of those around me. With my sarcasm, I am making Christ followers around me bland by tearing at them, which in turn is making the image of Christ bland as well. If I make his followers have no flavor then why would anyone desire to ‘taste’ like him? There is only so much blah food one person can take before they move onto the next course of the meal.

Also, we need to realize that by making other around us less salty we are making ourselves “tasteless”. Nothing ruins a meal more than something on the plate being tasteless. No one uses hard-tack as the bread of their sandwiches because it has no flavor which would in turn take away from the flavor of the meat.

Our actions are what make the ‘meal’ enjoyable, and the way we speak to one another is what dictates the flavor.

I am called to be the salt of the earth not the ‘Fool’ that throws it out and tramples on it. I want to be flavorful not just substance.

Recommended scripture for today’s topic: Matthew 5:13-16, and Matthew 5:21-26.