Salt is good
Dear brothers and sisters,
Salt is good, but if the salt loses its flavor, how will you season it? Have salt in yourselves, and have peace with one another (Mark 9:50).
When Jews get up in the morning, they first wash themselves and then immediately start their prayers, which last for at least an hour. Christians, on the other hand, first read the Gospel, and only afterwards begin to pray.
Why?
Rabbi David Talner, contrary to the normal custom of the Jews, used to start the day by reading his mail, and only prayed afterwards. When asked why, he answered, “The more renowned a man is, the more difficult is his struggle against besetting evil though ts in prayer. So I always read my letters first. Usually, they begin by adressing me as a righteous rabbi, a teacher, a leader, a holy man, or some other complimentary phrase. Then I begin my prayer by saying, ‘Lord, you know that I do not deserve these titles of honor. But since so many men believe me to be so in all sincerity, do not put their faith to shame. Make me become what they believe I am.’”.
God speaks
This is why we read the Gospel before praying. Through the Gospel, we hear God Himself, not men, speak to us the most beautiful and undeserved words: “You are the salt of the earth” (Matth. 5:13). “You are the light of the world” (Matth. 5:14). “You are all sons of God” (Galat. 3:26); “ partakers of the divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4); “heirs of God” (Romans 8:17), “I have loved you with an everlasting love” (Jeremiah 3;3). This incites us to prayer that we may become what we are called by God.
We are the salt of the earth. Jesus says, “Salt is good” (Mark 9:50). I wonder what made him say those simple words. Did he ever eat unsalted food? At one time, our prison guards poured spoonfuls of salt down our throats, and then left us without water. Then, on the contrary, for months we were given completely unsalted food. For us, these oats boiled in water, without any salt, were absolutely unbearable. We sometimes preferred to go hungry and not eat them. We, who were deprived of it, know that “salt is good”.
Grace of God
Are we good? Are we seasoning the meals of others? Are we giving flavor to other men’s lives? Or do we leave them without salt, as we prisoners were once left without salt? The simple fact that the Gospel calls us salt is not enough.
How do we become good? We have to rely utterly on the grace of God. You become good when you make the great discovery that you are not good, and can never be so. Then you ask God to make you so. The result is that you die, and Christ comes to live within you. All of his righteousness and goodness as you are to proclaim yourself the owner of any estate that you have inherited or been given legally as a gift. Either all the Christians have been fools, or a Christian can say to Jesus, “You are me!” or like Luther in his commentary on Galatians, “A Christian is Christ”.
Now, how should I proceed practically to be not me, but Him? The Gospel speaks about the foolishness of the cross, even about the foolishness of God. So let us learn from the madmen.
There are madmen eho believe that they are others. Each behaves according to what he reckons himself to be. The man who thinks he is Napoleon will put on a tricorn hat and curse the English for having defeated him at Waterloo. Those who think they are St. Francis will fast and pray a great deal and speak holy phrases, even if they do not make sense. The man who reckons himself to be Churchill will always carry a thick cigar in his mouth and talk about politics. What you reckon yourself to be determines your behavior.
Faithfully consider yourself what so many other saints have considered themselves to be: you are He - Christlike.
This mad presupposition will have the same result as with other madmen. More and more, you will come to behave like Him. As Paul said, “For me to live is Christ”.
It requires faith to believe yourself to be He, when you are a sinner. But what do we really know about the lives of the prophets, from Isaiah to Malachi? We know their prophecies, not their virtues and failures. You become a child of God by faith, by virtues and by good deeds.
Have this faith in Him, and the salt can never lose its saltness. You will become the unalterable formula of “goodness”.
By faith, lay down your own life completely. Deny the self. Cease to “practice” its virtues as much as its lusts. You have been crucified with Christ, and have suffered the fate of every crucified man: you have died. Yet you live. Since you exist after having died, you must have been born again, this time not from an earthly union; you are begotten from God. You are once again a child, an “angel”. You have been born with a new, angelic, divine character.
Believe God
Believe the Word of God: “In those days and in that time, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought, but there shall be none; and the sins of Judah, but they shall not be found ”. This refers to the time of the return of the Jews from Babylonian captivity. Looked at from the human level, they had plenty of sins. Nehemiah punished some of them for this. From the godly level, which is now yours, they had none. Self-diagnosis is no good. Only believe steadfastly that it is not you who live, but He, and you will succeed. You will achieve the goodness that does not fade.
Sincerely in Christ,
Richard Wurmbrand
Salt is good, but if the salt loses its flavor, how will you season it? Have salt in yourselves, and have peace with one another (Mark 9:50).
When Jews get up in the morning, they first wash themselves and then immediately start their prayers, which last for at least an hour. Christians, on the other hand, first read the Gospel, and only afterwards begin to pray.
Why?
Rabbi David Talner, contrary to the normal custom of the Jews, used to start the day by reading his mail, and only prayed afterwards. When asked why, he answered, “The more renowned a man is, the more difficult is his struggle against besetting evil though ts in prayer. So I always read my letters first. Usually, they begin by adressing me as a righteous rabbi, a teacher, a leader, a holy man, or some other complimentary phrase. Then I begin my prayer by saying, ‘Lord, you know that I do not deserve these titles of honor. But since so many men believe me to be so in all sincerity, do not put their faith to shame. Make me become what they believe I am.’”.
God speaks
This is why we read the Gospel before praying. Through the Gospel, we hear God Himself, not men, speak to us the most beautiful and undeserved words: “You are the salt of the earth” (Matth. 5:13). “You are the light of the world” (Matth. 5:14). “You are all sons of God” (Galat. 3:26); “ partakers of the divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4); “heirs of God” (Romans 8:17), “I have loved you with an everlasting love” (Jeremiah 3;3). This incites us to prayer that we may become what we are called by God.
We are the salt of the earth. Jesus says, “Salt is good” (Mark 9:50). I wonder what made him say those simple words. Did he ever eat unsalted food? At one time, our prison guards poured spoonfuls of salt down our throats, and then left us without water. Then, on the contrary, for months we were given completely unsalted food. For us, these oats boiled in water, without any salt, were absolutely unbearable. We sometimes preferred to go hungry and not eat them. We, who were deprived of it, know that “salt is good”.
Grace of God
Are we good? Are we seasoning the meals of others? Are we giving flavor to other men’s lives? Or do we leave them without salt, as we prisoners were once left without salt? The simple fact that the Gospel calls us salt is not enough.
How do we become good? We have to rely utterly on the grace of God. You become good when you make the great discovery that you are not good, and can never be so. Then you ask God to make you so. The result is that you die, and Christ comes to live within you. All of his righteousness and goodness as you are to proclaim yourself the owner of any estate that you have inherited or been given legally as a gift. Either all the Christians have been fools, or a Christian can say to Jesus, “You are me!” or like Luther in his commentary on Galatians, “A Christian is Christ”.
Now, how should I proceed practically to be not me, but Him? The Gospel speaks about the foolishness of the cross, even about the foolishness of God. So let us learn from the madmen.
There are madmen eho believe that they are others. Each behaves according to what he reckons himself to be. The man who thinks he is Napoleon will put on a tricorn hat and curse the English for having defeated him at Waterloo. Those who think they are St. Francis will fast and pray a great deal and speak holy phrases, even if they do not make sense. The man who reckons himself to be Churchill will always carry a thick cigar in his mouth and talk about politics. What you reckon yourself to be determines your behavior.
Faithfully consider yourself what so many other saints have considered themselves to be: you are He - Christlike.
This mad presupposition will have the same result as with other madmen. More and more, you will come to behave like Him. As Paul said, “For me to live is Christ”.
It requires faith to believe yourself to be He, when you are a sinner. But what do we really know about the lives of the prophets, from Isaiah to Malachi? We know their prophecies, not their virtues and failures. You become a child of God by faith, by virtues and by good deeds.
Have this faith in Him, and the salt can never lose its saltness. You will become the unalterable formula of “goodness”.
By faith, lay down your own life completely. Deny the self. Cease to “practice” its virtues as much as its lusts. You have been crucified with Christ, and have suffered the fate of every crucified man: you have died. Yet you live. Since you exist after having died, you must have been born again, this time not from an earthly union; you are begotten from God. You are once again a child, an “angel”. You have been born with a new, angelic, divine character.
Believe God
Believe the Word of God: “In those days and in that time, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought, but there shall be none; and the sins of Judah, but they shall not be found ”. This refers to the time of the return of the Jews from Babylonian captivity. Looked at from the human level, they had plenty of sins. Nehemiah punished some of them for this. From the godly level, which is now yours, they had none. Self-diagnosis is no good. Only believe steadfastly that it is not you who live, but He, and you will succeed. You will achieve the goodness that does not fade.
Sincerely in Christ,
Richard Wurmbrand
Labels: Richard Wurmbrand, Word of God
Posted by Dominique Péladeau for the Rev. Radu Roscanu | 12:30 PM
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