A Beautiful Offering by Angela Thomas chapter 9 pgs. 121-123

This is such a great book. I would highly recommend it. It's the Sermon on the Mount, the Beatitudes in simple applicable terms. Instead of this nebulous thing out there floating around. I personally have to read something more sometimes to help me be able apply scripture directly to my working life, because that's what scripture is for, to be directly applied to your life so you can flourish like a plant in the light of the sun. Angela calls the Beatitudes the "When You Are's" instead of the list of "Gotta-Be's" Here's a snippet of the great teaching I've been sitting under this week with her. Hope you enjoy.

Jesus turned a corner in His sermon when He transitioned from the When You Are blessings into the As You Go instructions. We are now coming into the specific characteristics that make our lives a beautiful offering to Him. He is speaking to the common people, the “multitudes” who have just been given blessing in the kingdom. Jesus said that these are the ones to whom God gives light and salt. No one has to qualify to be salt and light except that they have divine fellowship with God by faith in Jesus.

When Jesus spoke, the crowds heard about an upside-down world being set right side up. The Pharisees had misrepresented God, and now Jesus had come to set things right. He told us that His followers have markings different from what they have seen or heard. Other people should be able to tell when a follower of Jesus is in the room. In this turning of His sermon, Jesus begins with these words to you and me:

You are the salt of the earth. (Matthew 5:13)

If we are acting like salt then we will affect the world positively in His name. You may have heard some of this before, but it’s worth repeating. Let’s run through a few of the qualities of salt:

Salt preserves and purifies. Jesus sends us into a world of people whose souls will decay without Him. We are supposed to take the life-purifying message of salvation to them. Salt does not purify or preserve inside the shaker, but only after it has been rubbed into the food. In the same way, in order for our salt to be effective, you and I will have to be rubbed into a dying world, interacting, loving, and becoming right along with them. It’s a little scary, especially if we have become the church ladies who live inside the church bubble. But the more excited I get about Jesus, the more I want to be rubbed into the world for His glory.

Salt provides flavor. The application for the Christian is to bring out the God--flavors of this world. Are you looking for the hand of God woven through our days? Do you remind others of His presence, His work among us, and His calling toward Christlikeness? Do others see the person of God because they share a life experience with you.

Salt makes you thirsty. Do you make anyone thirsty for Jesus? That is so convicting for me. Do people want more of God because of what they have seen and heard in me? Do you remember John 7:37?

If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink.

Our responsibility (as salt) is to make men and women thirsty (for God) because of our lives and then point them to Jesus Christ. His responsibility is to satisfy the thirst.

Salt is a common substance. I am so grateful that Jesus did not say, “You are the gold of the earth,” because I’d never think I was ready. But Jesus likens us to the stuff they give you for free in little packs at the fast-food restaurant. I love that. He uses the weak, the foolish, and the despised. Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians,
“God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him. (1:27-29)

I am just a single mom with four kids. A minute ago, I ran downstairs to make a peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwich for AnnaGrace that she wanted cut into four triangles. After I finished with these words I need to rake the yard because I let the grass get to high before I mowed last night. I fly by the seat of my pants sometimes. I oversleep some days and I reach for something chocolate when I’m sad. It’s just me, a common woman with a common life. Do you feel common and plain and extremely ordinary? Then Jesus is talking to me and you. We are the ones He has ordained to be salt on this earth. We get to rock this world in His name. God uses small things and small people like us. We cannot let our common lives keep us from this holy calling.