It even sounds good. We all have met these people at some point in our lives. They are a very good and worthy people who we would trust with our lives. We can depend on them at anytime for anything. They are the salt of our lives.
Many of us put salt on our food. Table salt is made up of both sodium and chloride. Sodium is a deadly poison by itself, and so is chloride. But when you put them together you have table salt. Salt is a good thing, as it flavors food; and we need a certain amount for our health. We need salt to live.
Salt also preserves. It works by absorbing the water from the food. This prevents bacteria from growing and causing health problems. The harmful organisms are killed by high concentrations of salt. Bacon, ham, and pickled vegetables all use salt as a preservative. Salt inhibits the growth of bacteria by drawing off the water and depriving the bacteria from a conducive environment in which to grow.
Salt has also been used in religion to protect buildings and individuals from evil. Salt was associated with strong powers to ward off evil spirits and was used in exorcisms. Tossing a pinch of salt over your left shoulder was supposed to get rid of bad luck because people believed that the devil is always standing behind you. Throwing the salt in his eye distracts him from causing you trouble. Some people would only do this after spilling salt. Salt spilled was thought to be bad luck, and because it was an expensive commodity long ago, it was bad luck to be wasteful. Salt was a necessity in old times and held great value. It was never wasted. Salt was used for money. At one time, the Roman soldiers were paid in salt. Our word “salary” comes from the Latin word salarium; which referred to the payments to the soldiers with salt. We still use the phrase saying that someone either is, or is not, “worth their salt.”
Jesus used salt as an example of what believers in Him need to be while on this planet. Matthew 5:13, “You are the salt of the earth.” Jesus is saying that we should affect the world in a positive way.
We have an abundance of food in our country; but in some parts of the world rice is eaten three times a day and in Africa cornmeal is eaten every day. This food would become difficult to swallow day after day without salt to give it flavor. Jesus asks that if salt loses its flavor, how can we make it salty again?
So if we as Christians are considered as valuable as salt, then what are we supposed to be preserving? We are given the task of preventing or arresting the process of decay in the world. Christianity has attached new value to human life. Hospitals began through the influence of Christianity. The Red Cross was started by an evangelical Christian. Almost every one of the first colleges and universities in the United States has Christian origins, founded by Christians for Christian purposes.
Christians act as a moral antiseptic by opposing moral decay with their lives and their words. Unfortunately, many of us Christians have become so like the world that we no longer are acting as a preservative. The flavor that we add to the lives around us is one that tastes just like they do.
Jesus is trying to tell us that we have to be separate from the world in action and word in order to be a deterrent against decay. If the salt loses its flavor, how do we make it salty again? He said we throw it out and walk on it. It becomes part of the earth that is decaying.
When Christ returns to take His believers out of the world, the salt is removed from the earth. All hell will break out because there is nothing left on earth to prevent the decay. Violence as in the Days of Noah will run rampant and no one will be safe. Only the Holy Spirit, indwelling the spirits of believers in Jesus Christ as the Son of God, is holding back the darkness from overtaking the world. When He removes Himself in His believers, then the devil takes over completely to kill, steal and destroy without hinderance. The earth ends up destroyed by fire and God has to create a new heaven and a new earth.
Just as salt is composed of two deadly elements when taken by themselves, so Christians are made up of a sinful body and a sinful mind. Both the carnal body and carnal mind want things their way. The way of the body and the way of the mind is opposite of the ways of God and the same as the ways of the devil who rules this world. One way reaps eternal life with Christ and the other reaps eternal suffering.
Only when we draw close to Christ and His Word do we gain spiritual authority over the flesh and mind to feel and think the way He created us to feel and think. Only by abiding in Him do we bear fruit that is like Him. This Christ-Fruit is full of salty flavor. It tastes good to the spiritual man, and prevents the evil of this world from conforming us into its image instead of the image of Christ. It also draws people who are tired of eating the same old cornmeal and rice flavored only by this world.
The Scriptures tell us: You must be Born again of the water and of the Spirit to be able to enter the Kingdom of God. They that worship Him must worship Him in Spirit and in Truth. Present your bodies as a living sacrifice to God, which is your reasonable service. Know you not that you are the Temple of God? Be transformed by the renewing of your mind. We have the mind of Christ. Christ in you the hope of Glory. (John 3:5, John 4:24, Romans 12:1, I Corinthians 3:16, Romans 12:2, I Corinthians 2:16, Colossians 1:27)
We have said it about others. Can the Lord say it about you and I? Insert your name in the blank: “________________ is the Salt of the Earth.”