You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet. Matthew 5:13
Salt is one of the most common things of life. It is from the common things that God brings glory to His name. When God made man in the garden of Eden, what did He use? Gold? Silver? Iron? No, He used dust. He breathed into the dust the divine breath of life. When God spoke to Moses in the desert to call him to come forth to be the deliverer of the people of Israel from Egypt, how did He reveal Himself? In a dazzling theophany? In an overpowering vision? No, in a burning desert bush. When God called David to deliver the Israelites from the Philistine tyranny, did He make use of Saul's armor? No, He used a sling and a few small stones. God uses the small things and the small people. God uses you and me that He might do His work in the world.
When Jesus said that Christians are the salt of the earth, that as Christians we have a responsibility to the people about us. We are to serve as salt to the whole earth; that is, we are to perform a service in and to the whole world. This entails a responsibility. Salt is no good stored up in a room by itself. It must make contact with other substances if it is to have its effect in upon the substance. Salt requires penetration...involvement. This calls every person to invest some portion of their life outside their church and personal life. We are the salt of the "earth", not just the "church." Those who serve our community through active participation in clubs, agencies, boards and other activities can be much more effective as salt than those who only "salt the shaker" every week.
When salt loses its flavor, it becomes tasteless, and dull. It loses its effectiveness and that is what happens to us if we become lazy in our relationship with Christ. We can lose our effectiveness and purpose. In order to keep our “saltiness”, we have to make Christ and our relationship with Him the first priority in our lives. We have to safeguard ourselves from losing our effectiveness by not allowing ourselves to be drawn away for any reason. Salt is always salt, but its effectiveness can be compromised, just as our effectiveness as a Christian can be compromised as well. It doesn’t change the fact that we are a Christian, but our testimony may not be as effective. Good salt can and does make men thirsty. Do people want your kind of life? Do you find your life being drawn on by others? People will either walk on you or draw from you when you "show your salt."
The responsibility of the Christian is not to judge, criticize, evaluate, condemn or denounce...but to give seasoning and purity to the world about him. How much salt does it take to flavor food? Only a little can make a great difference. We are called to be that grain of salt that can make our world a better place to live
For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption… 1 Corinthians 1:26-30
