“But if you cause one of these little ones who trusts in me to fall into sin, it would be better for you to be thrown into the sea with a large millstone hung around your neck. If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It’s better to enter eternal life with only one hand than to go into the unquenchable fires of hell with two hands. If your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It’s better to enter eternal life with only one foot than to be thrown into hell with two feet. And if your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out. It’s better to enter the Kingdom of God with only one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell, ‘where the maggots never die and the fire never goes out.’ “For everyone will be tested with fire. Salt is good for seasoning. But if it loses its flavor, how do you make it salty again? You must have the qualities of salt among yourselves and live in peace with each other.” [Mark 9.42-50]
Believe it or not, I see a lesson here about idolatry.
If, with our idols of debt, insurance, medicine and technology (or any other idol for that matter), we cause a child or young believer to stop trusting God, the outcome for us is not so good.
The question has been argued in response to all my ranting about debt, insurance, medicine and technology, "What are we supposed to do, get rid of everything?"
Jesus must have known the question above would be coming... but His answer is not what anyone really wants to hear: If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It’s better to enter eternal life with only one hand than to go into the unquenchable fires of hell with two hands. If your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It’s better to enter eternal life with only one foot than to be thrown into hell with two feet. And if your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out. It’s better to enter the Kingdom of God with only one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell.
So, there is not much "saltiness" unless there is some salt - some flavor! If we wish to have any preserving value at all in our lives, we must get rid of some things that, to the world, seem absolutely necessary. It will seem that we place ourselves at a great disadvantage in so doing. But, unless we have this testimony, we risk grooming children in idolatry without them having much of a chance to believe in Jesus alone.
Imagine a world where people have a revelation that their society is indeed given over entirely to debt, insurance, medicine and technology as idols. Imagine that in their revelation, they reject and methodically remove debt, insurance, medicine and technology from their lives. In spite of the societal ridicule and rejection they would experience, imagine the "salty" testimony of faith in God alone that would be conveyed!
On the other hand, imagine the eternal damage inflicted on a young believer's faith when they are told, "Trust God for everything," but then they are told that debt, insurance, medicine and technology are "just the way it is - God uses these things..." while the Bible contradicts this notion with every single miracle cited therein.
Suddenly, doing everything one can to rid himself or herself of every possible idol, even at the expense of great inconvenience if not even death, seems plausible if it means the difference between heaven or hell as their eternal destiny.
It is one thing to hold onto idols. It is another thing altogether to reproduce idolatry in unsuspecting children or infantile believers essentially giving them no other choice but to "bow" to these idols!
Our great societal problem then is our unwillingness to do without for the sake of the Kingdom. In fact, many churches today are as much about "living it up" as is the world. When faith is taught as a way to "get" instead of a way to "give," then the likelihood for the students of that teaching to comprehend the meaning of Jesus' discussion about offending children (Mark 9.42-50) is minimal.
Unsurprisingly, the text of Mark 9.42-50 is in context of the disciples arguing among themselves about which of them was the greatest (Mark 9.33-37): the epitome of self-centeredness and consequent carelessness about what matters eternally.
So, before we "shoot the messenger," we might do well to consider the "message of preserving salt" he brings to the rotting condition of idolatry that has become the flavorless norm of society.
Father, I would just as soon move on to another topic... But Your Word is compelling me to unmask the idolatry that has become "the way it is" in today's world (even if only in this unknown blog). Forgive me for confusing Your message with my words, but may The Message shine through miraculously anyway. Forgive us not only for our own personal idolatry, but more importantly, forgive us for our reproduction of idolatry by our inadvertent testimony of faithlessness and hypocrisy on display before children and young believers as we ourselves cling to idols.
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