Wednesday, February 19, 2020
You
are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how will it be
made salty again? It is good for nothing anymore, except to be thrown out and
trampled underfoot by men. Matthew 5:13
In the
Sermon on the Mount Jesus said that we are to be the salt of the earth. He went
on to say that if salt becomes tasteless, it is no has use anymore. For
Christians, this means “losing our saltiness” would make us useless for our purpose
in His kingdom. You see, the issue was the saltiness of salt. When salt losses
its saltiness, or its potency, it is good for nothing anymore.
Losing
our Saltiness
Salt is salt.
It’s chemical makeup never changes, but it does lose some of its flavor
the more diluted it becomes. When you
bake chocolate chip cookies, there is so little salt in them you cannot taste
it. It is there for the chemistry of
baking. But if you put a tablespoon of
salt in a half cup of water, it would be very evident. The same salt that is tasteless in the
cookies is the same that is very strong in the water.
Just like salt can become too diluted and lose its
flavor, the more we become diluted by this world, the less salty we are, and
that means the less likely we will be to fulfill our godly purpose. It doesn’t mean we aren’t saved anymore. Once Jesus saves a soul, they are saved
forever. But we can be led astray away from
God, and that is Satan’s whole goal. He wants
to lead us away so we will not be “salt” for the kingdom. Trying to get
involved with world in order to be the salt of the earth can lead us to become
too influenced by the world, so much so that we don’t even look any different.
We have to be very intentional about not being swept away.
Being too diluted by the world will cause us to lose
credibility with those we are trying to reach.
If there is no difference between the way you are living your life and
the non-Christians around you, why would they want what you have? Much is at stake if we lose our credibility
and the world is watching eagerly for another Christian to fall.
Christians can also lose their saltiness when they
neglect their relationship with God. Not
reading the Bible and praying takes a toll on this relationship, as well as not
going to church. Staying in fellowship with
other Christians and staying in communion with God keeps us exactly where we
need to be to stay salty.
A
Christian who does not find specific application for his life can slowly lose
his purpose. Being overinvolved as well can cause burnout fast and cause one to
suddenly want to be involved in nothing.
When the Christian loses his ability to contain and share the attitude
and purpose of God, he/she is no longer salty.
Keeping
your relationship with Christ a priority in your life will help to safeguard
you against losing your saltiness.
Remember your devotion and commitment to Him when you first became a
Christian? He made you salty! Remember the fire you had burning inside and
the desire to soak up everything about Him?
To be salt for the earth is to have that fire within- to set things on
fire around us, to keep the light burning brightly. To do so effectively, we must not lose our
saltiness.
But I
have this against you, that you have left your first love. ‘Therefore, remember
from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first; or
else I am coming to you and will remove your lampstand out of its place—unless
you repent. Revelation 2:4-5
