Salt Water | the Master

If all you have is salt water and you drink it, you won't be satisfied — you'll be thirstier. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Good morning. This is Northword. Saltwater. I want to talk to you about saltwater. Good morning. This is Northword, the Word, the North, your Week, a daily podcast from St. John's, Fort Smith, in collaboration with the Anglican family. I'm your host, Father Aaron. If you're thirsty and all you have is salt water, and you drink it, you won't be satisfied. You'll be more thirsty. So you drink more and more thirsty, and you drink more, and you're still thirsty. When the cycle doesn't break, it accelerates. That is exactly what sin does in our lives. Think about the habits you return to when no one is watching, the thing you reach for when the pressure lands on your desk. It doesn't actually help. You know it doesn't help. And yet you go back. Because it gave you something once, a moment of relief, an adrenaline rush, a moment of distraction, a sense of control. Salt water, you drank it, and now you're thirstier. Paul names it plainly. You presented yourself as slaves to impurity, and it led to more impurity. Saint Augustine said it like this: the soul curves in on itself. The more we sin, the less capable the will becomes of choosing otherwise, choosing something outside of sin. See, the light doesn't disappear all at once, it just gets smaller and smaller, and your eyes adjust better and better to the darkness. So here's the question for today, and this is specific, so don't let yourself give a vague answer. Where in your life right now are you drinking salt water? Not a general spiritual struggle, something specific. Work. Are you managing anxiety with something that feeds anxiety? Home. Are you numbing something that needs to be faced? Relationships. Are you avoiding a conversation that keeps the wound open? You know what it is. You'll know for a while. Salt water doesn't satisfy. It never did. And there's a master, the master of sin, and he keeps count, and eventually he pays out what you're owed. But there is a different master. And he doesn't offer a wage. He doesn't offer a payment. He offers you a gift. You become what you serve. The only question which master has you? Is it the master of sin or is it the master of Jesus? This has been Northward, the word the North Your Week, a daily podcast from St. John's Fortsmith in collaboration with the Anglican family. Follow us wherever you listen to podcasts and share this with someone today and reach out through the text us link in the description. Until tomorrow, God be with you. In the name of Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.