Live It or Quiet Please!

"You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men." -Matthew 5:13

It seems to be some part of every church and fellowship today: Christians who wear the name but don't live the life. I need to start by clarifying that there's a difference between a stumbler and a Christian atheist (one who believes in God but lives as if He doesn't exist). There is a difference between a believer who is seeking to live a godly life, but struggling, and the person who claims to be a believer, but blatantly disregards what the Bible says and chooses to live a lifestyle out of God's plan. My request of those in the latter category is to please do us all a favor and be quiet. Don't claim it if you are not going to live it. Your malpractice is killing the witness of Christ and the testimony of His church. It sounds surprising to hear a preacher ask someone to keep quiet their belief in Christ. But the key text of the Sermon on the Mount is Matthew 6:8, when Jesus said, "Don't be like them...." Essentially, Jesus was saying, "Don't be like this world. Be different. Don't be like them."

So what are we to be like? We are to be salt. Jesus said, "You are the salt of the earth. But what good is salt if it has lost its flavor? Can you make it salty again? It will be thrown out and trampled underfoot as worthless." In Jesus' day, salt was a bigger deal than it is now. The Romans believed that except for the sun, nothing was more valuable than salt. It actually was used as a form of currency, and Roman soldiers would sometimes be paid in salt. Hence the expression, "He is not worth his salt."

We are all going to have moments of hypocrisy. If I said I have never been a hypocrite, then I would be hypocritical for saying that. Believers have not always practiced what they preached. That is called humanity. Every Christian will fall short. The difference is that some are struggling in their sin while others are quite comfortable.

If you are a Christian and are habitually engaged in a lifestyle that is contrary to what the gospel teaches and what the Bible says, then please don't talk about Jesus. The world needs realness and authenticity today. To stay habitually in your sin with no repentance and change shows the eerie state of your heart. It might be time for an open heart procedure with the Great Physician.

D.C. Talk put it this way: "The single leading cause of atheism in the world today is Christians...who acknowledge Jesus with their lips and walk out the doors of the church and deny Him by their lifestyle. That is what the unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable."

Help the cause of Christ. Live it or shut up.