to bleat or to roar

As I said yesterday our bible study has just finished a three week study on "Roaring Lambs" by Bob Briner, I wasn't sure what to expect but we have had some really great conversations and it has really challenged me to think about what it means to be a "Roaring Lamb" in my work, in my culture, in my community and in the world!

The book it about doing, about action, about making things happen and it sets a great precedent by acknowledging that "one of the most overriding and compelling principles of the Bible is the truth that in our own strength we can do nothing. Unless we have waited on the Lord in prayer and received His direction and blessing, what we do will be ineffective and futile."

I have been and still am thinking about the idea of being salt and what that would look like for me personally, I am not a gifted writer, I sometimes find it hard to be articulate what I think, so how am I to be salt? I wanted to think through the practical ways in which I can be salt in this community, in this culture, in this world. There are lots of things I feel passionately about in the news or on the TV but often I sit in my own little world grumbling about how wrong it is and how I don't agree with it but I do little much else with it other than 'blog about it'. So I have been challenged to consider how I might do be salt, maybe it is simply writing a letter to the SMH to give them my Christian perspective.

I think there are ways in which we can all be like salt, I know I need to think outside the box a little more to think through how I can share what I think and realizing it is just going to take a bit of time and effort. But like the book says, "the best way to stop the spread of evil is to replace it with something good", so it's not just about sitting and disagreeing, it's about taking action, about doing something about writing that letter to the SMH, calling up talk back radio, write a book or post a comment on a blog!

I will finish with one more quote from Roaring Lambs, "Salt is both a seasoning and a preservative. It seasons by adding taste and enhancing flavour. It preserves by cleansing and retarding spoilage. In both cases, the salt must be brought into contact with it's object for it's power to be realised. Sitting in the shaker, it does no good. It might as well be thrown out."

I encourage us all to think through how we might be salt in this world and how can we replace evil with good but last and more importantly is asking God to show us how we can use the gifts he has given each one of us to make him know and acknowledging that without him we can do nothing.

Am I going to be bleat like a lamb or am I going to roar??