You are the Salt of the Earth

You are the Salt of the Earth

"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 by men.” Matt. 5:13

Salt, as most of us probably know already, has been used for centuries not only as a flavor-enhancer but more importantly as a method of preservation. Before there was electricity and refrigerators, people used salt to preserve their food.

So when Jesus says “You are the salt of the earth…” he is telling us that we who are followers of Jesus are to be a preserving force upon the earth that not only preserves and prevents decay but also adds flavor and enhances enjoyment to those receiving our ministry.

But there was a problem with some of the salt in the days that Jesus lived: it wasn’t as refined as the salt in our salt shaker today so it was often diluted by impurities. The salt didn’t cease to be salt; there was simply too little salt mixed in with too many other minerals.

The application is obvious: when the salt of the earth – followers of Jesus Christ – allow their lives to be full of compromise and impurities, they become ineffective in their role as a preserving force in the world. In other words, they are still salt, still believers in Christ destined for heaven, but they fail to fulfill their God-ordained purpose of being a preserving force on the earth.

Often we miss the implication of our being the salt of the earth. We love to stand around and shake our heads and point our fingers and judge the world and our nation as rotting and going to hell without ever recognizing that it is we ourselves who are called to be the salt that prevents the decay!

And how do we fail? By not doing the little things, by not straining out the impurities. We make ourselves ineffective by not keeping ourselves holy and set apart for God’s purposes. We conform to the ways of the world around us rather than being transformed into the likeness of Christ. We do what everyone around us is doing instead of doing what God is calling us to do.

To be fair, there is still a remnant of faithful Christ-followers in the United States who boldly living righteous lives for Christ in this post-Christian culture of today. Thank God for that. However, the truth remains that many of us Christians in America today are allowing sin and darkness to dominate our lives rather than living victoriously in the light of Christ.

Think with me for a moment about our personal lives and the churches we lead or attend. Are we as believers doing a good job of flavoring the culture around us and holding out the word of life to those who are dying in their sins? Am I doing a good job of being salt, being a preserving agent in my job, at my school, in my neighborhood, in my circle of influence wherever that may be? Is my church more interested in being seeker-sensitive or in being salt?

            May the Lord help us all to think through what it means to be the salt of the earth and then live our lives accordingly.

Pray with me: Lord, help me to be the salt you want me to be. Help me to hold out the Word of Life to the people around me. Help me to take a stand for you and to be a preserving agent in the lives of my friends and loved ones. And help me do it in a way that is a flavor-enhancer, not as one who comes across as unnecessarily offensive. Help me to be a positive influence in the lives of… continue praying, lifting up the names of those the Lord brings to mind today…

Please use this blog for personal devotional use and feel free to share it with friends and family. However, all publishing rights are reserved. No reproduction or publication of this blog is permitted without the permission of the author, Pastor Randy Brockett of New Song Foursquare Church in Colorado Springs, Colorado. To contact Pastor Randy, email him at randybrockett@yahoo.com.