By: Juliet Constantine
“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 underfoot.” (Matthew 5:13)
One of my favorite pastimes was just to sit and watch the Food Network Channel. I found it educational and always got tips on how to make a variety of dishes, and how to enhance flavors and presentation. Sometimes, my daughter and I used to fantasize about being contestants on Cupcake Wars and Chopped. This may never happen in my lifetime, or maybe hers; but, lessons learned will always be remembered. One of the main lessons taught by all, be it chef masters or judges, is that salt and pepper is king. Irrespective of how skillfully a person(s) can blend international flavors, without the correct amount of salt and pepper, which are essential to bring those flavors together, the food will be considered useless – though not by all. Nevertheless, a well prepared dish will be tastefully seasoned. Some believed that presentation is everything. But in food preparation, taste is king. Salt and pepper is the clincher.
Similarly, Jesus used this metaphor to explain, to His disciples, that they are salt; they are the needed ingredient that will make this earth palatable. If you notice, He didn’t say that they were pepper. Peppers can be quite spicy, but excessive amounts will cause your mouth and eyes to burns. This wasn’t a fitting image for His children. Just as a number of people shy away from pepper, Jesus knew that if His disciples had peppery temperaments, people would keep away. So, He classified them as the salt of this earth.
“You are the salt of the earth,” He said. Salt is used in just about everything: from saline, medicine, food, preservatives, melted snow… and the list goes on. Salt is very essential and irreplaceable. I guess that’s why Jesus told His disciples they were to be salt on this earth. As Christians, we are to be seen, be felt, be heard, and yes, be ‘tasted’. We are to make a difference. We are needed on this planet to keep it from combusting. We are needed as a visual representative of Jesus Christ to bring conviction, fear, and change. We are to be in every household, every store and office-- everywhere people are gathered.
“Salt is valued for its preservative properties; and when God calls His children salt, He would teach them that His purpose in making them the subjects of His grace is that they may become agents in saving others. The object of God in choosing a people before all the world was not only that He might adopt them as His sons and daughters, but that through them the world might receive the grace that bringeth salvation…. Salt must be mingled with the substance to which it is added; it must penetrate and infuse in order to preserve. So it is through personal contact and association that men are reached by the saving power of the gospel. They are not saved in masses, but as individuals. Personal influence is a power. We must come close to those whom we desire to benefit.” (TFMB pg36-36)
Salt can loose its savor and when it does, it is good for nothing. No sensible person would use salt that cannot flavor. Similarly, as Christians, we cannot behave like the world. We must be different. While we mingle with the world, we must not allow ourselves to be led astray. Should this happen, there will be no sanctifying power to diffuse the darkness. As God’s children, we cannot be seen as whoremongers, murders, liars, sexual immoral, idolaters, or abominable. We cannot be like them. We should be the example, the light, the salt.
Thank You Father for choosing us to be Your representatives. Please help us to be the difference in our skeptical world-- we pray, in Jesus’ name, amen.
Copyrighted by Juliet Constantine 2014 (for “Alone With God – Finding Jesus In The Scriptures” Daily Devotional)
