(45.) Z is for Zest

(45.) Z is for Zest

“He who has the faith has the fun!” If G. K. Chesterton was right, Christian schools need to make sure they are not operating with a personality defect. Being salt of the earth has many functions,including that of being a preservative, a peacemaker between people, an ancient home remedy for infection and disease. But have we forgotten that salt is spicy, that it adds flavor and zest and liveliness when applied to foods? So when Jesus told us to be the salt of the earth, in part he told us that this world needs something to liven it up in a righteous sort of way. He is saying that His Spirit is not dead or morbid, and that he wants us to add the spice of life through us to a bland world.

Christian teachers, then, should be live wires, unconventional risk-takers, lively personalities who are unafraid to break the mold. And students should not be pressed into unnecessary conformity, but instead encouraged to be innocent rascals, clever as serpents and innocent as doves.

The same could be said for the Christian church, which too often suffers from a lifeless and needless conformity. Actually, church history reveals an amazing concoction of diverse personalities. They had character, but they were also characters.

Christian schools could easily provide the ministry of gusto, a wake-up call to the church and the world, encouraging all to be alive and kicking, bringing zest and spice to the table of the world.

“Sameness is to be found most among the most ‘natural’ of people, not among those who surrender to Christ. How monotonously alike all the great tyrants and conquerors have been; how gloriously different are the saints.” (C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity).

So, pass the salt, please.