3.101 We are All a Work In Progress

In Matthew 5, Jesus calls us the salt of the earth and the light of the world, reminding us that our lives are meant to preserve, illuminate, and point others to Him. This season on Savory Salt, we'll walk through the Old Testament, one verse and one thought each day. Perhaps these moments will add greater savor and brighter light to our lives as we seek to truly live as Savory Salt.

Hello, my friends. It's a new day with new opportunities. Choose ye this day whom you will serve.

Do-do-do-do. I've got a fun announcement on the front end of the episode today. It's been a work in progress, and it's been a long time coming.

But, my friends, I want to let you know as a listener of Savory Salt that savoriesaltpodcast.com is live. It is not a place where you go to spend any money or to put in any of your information. What it is, is a place where I've been able to collect the 829, or 30, or 31, or whatever it is, 830 plus episodes of Savory Salt.

I am absolutely using some AI tools to help me out. So, forgive the transcription if it seems to be a little bit odd, or just recognize that I say odd things sometimes. Maybe it's a little bit of both.

But, my friends, I wanted to share that with you on the front end of today's episode because I am so excited about how that can be a resource, and it is already helping the podcast grow worldwide in ways that we have never seen over these last three seasons. So, welcome to Savory Salt, my longtime listeners. Shout out to you guys for listening regularly and often.

You know who you are because you talk to me, and reach out to me, and text me, and say things back and forth about the episodes I share. Now, let's make sure that we get into our verse for today because this one is an important one for all of us. Do you ever read the Old Testament and feel like sometimes the Lord is just like, "Oh, the children of Israel, you guys just keep messing up!

Can you get this right?" And then maybe in your own life, do you ever feel like, "Oh my goodness, I just can't seem to get this gospel thing figured out"? And you're making mistakes and you're trying to be better. I think we see a little bit of perhaps why we're like that and why the children of Israel are like that inside of our verse for today.

It is a little bit of a curveball, but stick with me. You know that sometimes I like to approach things from a different point of view. So, here we are.

Our verse for today is Exodus chapter 12, verse 40. It says this: "Now the sojourning of the children of Israel, who dwelt in Egypt, was four hundred—was 430 years." If you look at the footnote there for "sojourning", you see that it basically just means the bondage in Egypt. So, the children of Israel are slaves in Egypt for 430 years.

Then we get this miraculous story with the Passover and the release of the children of Israel. Now, do you think if you, your parents, your grandparents, your great-grandparents, your great-great-grandparents — if you think all of them experienced bondage and slavery, and then you magically are freed — that you would just figure life out? Would you just know what to do with your freedom when the only thing that you've known for generations is bondage and slavery?

My friends, I think that's what it's like to accept the gospel of Jesus Christ in all of our lives. Even those of us that have grown up inside of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. You see, all of us, as we develop a relationship with Christ, we start to learn more and more that becoming like Christ often means changing who we are inside and out.

The children of Israel repeatedly are counseled by the Lord, and given direction by the Lord, and sometimes chastised by the Lord because they're trying to figure it out. My friends, I think the blessing that we can pull from the children of Israel here is that we see the Lord understand that we are all a work in progress when it comes to developing a testimony of Jesus Christ in our lives. You are a work in progress.

I'm a work in progress. And our past is anchoring us. Our past, our past learning, our past of our parents and our grandparents.

And don't get me wrong. I'm not saying anyone did anything wrong or right. No, this isn't anything to blame.

This is an opportunity to realize that as we seek Christ in our lives, we are a work in progress. We are leaving our old selves behind. The children of Israel left behind their slavery, and yet the slavery mentality continued with them.

As you and I seek to change in Christ, may we realize that our mindset is going to change. Our habits and behaviors are going to change. The more we seek Christ, the more we will change in our lives, and that's okay.

And those days that we mess up, that's okay too. Christ is there for us as we work through our stages of progress. I love that one.

That's all for today, my friends. You and I have come here for such a time as this. Step forward in faith, and let's be savory salt.

Thank you for joining me on this journey. We will be here tomorrow, and we hope you are too.