Please Pass the Salt

“Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted?  it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.”  Matthew 5:13

Salt, sodium chloride (NaCl), is found in the ground, in the oceans, and is used as seasoning and a preservative for foods.  Many foods are bland without salt.  Just one grain can be tasted on the tongue.  Saline solutions, which are used to help in cleansing wounds, sinuses, and as an aid to problems with teeth and gums, are sodium based.  Gargling with warm salty water helps with sore throats.  To “salt away” or “salt down” means to pack and preserve.  To “salt out” means to separate a dissolved substance from a solution by adding salt.  There is a Latin phrase “cum grano salis”, which means “with a grain of salt” indicating a way to evaluate with some skepticism the truthfulness of a statement.  The grain of salt metaphorically separates the truth from the non-truth.  To be “worth one’s salt” means to be worth one’s wages or sustenance.  And then of course we have the Biblical phrase, “the salt of the earth”, which the world describes as a person who has integrity, is noble and dependable.

In ancient times, salt was used as a medium of exchange, and in Numbers 18:19, there was a “covenant of salt”, a figurative phrase to express an everlasting promise between God and Israel.  By all of these uses for and references to salt, we can see that it is more than a substance in a round blue box with a little girl holding an umbrella.  As Christians are the spiritual “salt of the earth”, we are to make others thirsty for a relationship with Jesus Christ by our witness, our lifestyle, and the joy and contentment we display because of the One who lives in our hearts.

We are also to act as a preserving agent against the onslaught and decay of our sin-soaked world.  But, what if the godly Christian by sin or laziness loses his or her influence?  If we allow the flesh to be in control, then we will lose our saltiness, that is, our ability to flavor all those with whom we come in contact.  Instead we need to “shake out” the radiant joy and preserving nature that comes from a pure heart upon others, and do so with a loving and caring spirit.  Otherwise, we will become a hypocrite, and the world will trample under their feet any Christian integrity that we have left.  If our salt loses its savour, or saltiness, then we will become a bland and mediocre servant of the Lord.  God’s desire is for us to bring out the flavor of His love and mercy for it is sorely needed to halt the decay of this old world.