SALTY

       A Christian explained the gospel to another person while I listened from a distance. 

It caused me to think about a mug of hot chocolate. I was eight and sledding with neighbor kids. It was below zero so their mother bribed us to come in and drink hot chocolate. Eight kids set around a huge table to watch a kettle of hot chocolate as we licked our lips. I saw her dump two cups of sugar in from the canister on her kitchen counter. I knew it was going to be good! She brought the kettle to the table to ladle the steamy chocolate into our mugs.

      Since I was company I was served the first treat. I took a gulp and almost gagged. 

It was awful. I forced myself to swallow. Her children weren’t so polite. They spit it out.

She had dipped into the salt instead of the sugar canister.

      We are salt to the world. This Christian was sincere. But he took off the lid and 

dumped the whole saltshaker on the person. I could see the interest in the person’s eyes turn to 

dismay and finally bitterness as they tried to follow. The Christian didn’t know how to concisely present the gospel, and ask them to pray without going on and on. Too much salt! The result was a sweet moment turned into a bitter event. They were polite like I was with the salty chocolate, but quickly left so they could spit it out.

Verse: “Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you should answer each person.” Col.4:6 (NIV)