Pass the salt

“You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses is flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men” (Matthew 5:13 NKJV).

Pure salt cannot lose its flavor, but the salt common in the Dead Sea area is mixed with other minerals and useful only for keeping a foot path free of weeds and plants.

I’m not a great user of salt; it makes me retain fluid. Therefore I am never quite sure how to interpret this verse. Is Jesus saying His people are supposed to make people thirsty for God? Or are we preservatives in a corrupt world? Or do we flavor life and make it more palatable?

Oswald Chambers takes another view. He says we dare not think we are the “sugar of the earth” — all sweetness and appealing. Instead we are like salt in a wound. He likens people who are not right with God to open sores, and our saltiness in that sore makes it sting. Hence we are irritants to some people and our presence “spells persecution” just as Jesus predicts in the previous verses.

I know how salt cleanses and purifies wounds, not pleasantly, but in the right solution it can be a powerful and safe disinfectant. That gives me something to think about. If I’m a weak saline solution, my presence goes unnoticed. If I’m too strong, I’m just a big pain. The only way to know how salty God wants me to be is by hearing and obeying Him in all situations.

The other point that Jesus makes is that I must not allow my ‘saltiness’ to become mixed with elements that make my life “good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.” People might ignore a weak witness, or react to a strong one, but they most certainly will reject Christians who give a mixed message. Integrity not hypocrisy. Truth not fudging. Words and actions that match.

This means if I am salty I will admit my failures, behave in godly ways in private as well as in public, and be willing to say I don’t know all the answers. A crystal of pure salt is quite transparent.