I sat down to eat my lunch at work; Italian wedding soup with crackers, some yogurt, and a banana. My crackers and banana had been hanging out in my lunch box together all morning. When I took my first bite of cracker dipped in soup, the distinct taste of banana filled my mouth. My crackers had absorbed the flavor of their lunch box partner, and it was not pleasant. Don't get me wrong, I love bananas. But crackers are not supposed to taste like bananas. They are supposed to taste like crackers.
I think this is why the Bible warns us about choosing who we hang around. We take on the flavor of the people we spend time with. Proverbs 13: 20 states this clearly, "Walk with the wise and become wise, for a companion of fools suffers harm." This is definitely something that I want to instill in my children. Choose your friends wisely, and be the kind of friend to want to have.
Being careful about what we entertain ourselves with is also so, so important. With so much media vying for our time and attention, it is easy to get caught up in attitudes and behaviors that do not reflect our values. Just like I thought putting my crackers into a plastic bag would protect them, we think that we can compartmentalize ourselves and not let evil permeate into our minds and spirits. But every image we see and every word we hear or read leaks into the recesses of our being and either enhances us or averts us from our intended design. Safeguarding our hearts and minds with the Word and with prayer is imperative. We don't have to completely separate ourselves from the world, living in fear, but we must make every effort to put boundaries in place to protect our permeable hearts.
God has made us with a specific purpose in mind, but sometimes we, especially us women, compare ourselves to other people. We look at people with a stronger flavor, someone better looking or more talented or with a more outgoing personality, and we try to absorb some of what they have. We are inundated with messages that we aren't good enough. We strive to be something other than what God made us to be. And we end up just tasting bad; less than what we were meant to be, but not quite what we thought we wanted to be. But Jesus commands us to flavor the world in Matthew 5:13, "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 underfoot." Just like my banana crackers.
Sovereign Lord,
I confess that sometimes I try to take on the flavor of someone else, thinking of myself as less than desirable in this world. But you have created me with an intended purpose. Help me to enhance the flavor of others, not diminish it. Help me choose wisely the people I share my life with, and convict me when I am entertaining myself with things that will cause me to lose my saltiness.
