“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 (ESV).
Jesus used the
metaphor of salt to teach how important Christians are as they live out their
lives in the world. Comparing the
disciples to the familiar commodity of salt, He reminded them to think of the
value of salt. It is used as a
preservative, a seasoning and a purifier.
As a preservative
it keeps food from spoiling. Growing up
on a farm, we raised hogs. About Thanksgiving time, my father set a
“hog-killing” day when the hogs were butchered and the meat laid out in the
smokehouse by hams, shoulders and “middlings” to be preserved and cured. I recall how he took salt, rubbing it well
into the meat to start the curing process.
He also had his own formula using a mixture of brown sugar and spices to
sugar-cure the hams, but always there was the salt application first to
preserve the meat.
Salt is also a valuable
seasoning, making food taste better.
Many of us who have experienced heart difficulties may have to forego
salt in our diets, or, if salt is used at all only minimally or a “lite” or
“sea” salt. Salt permeates food and
makes it more tasty.
Other valuable
uses for salt include as a cleansing agent, as a medicine in warm water to
gargle sore throats, as a product to purify water. All of these can be likened to the influence
of the Christian’s life in society and in interaction with others.
Coming
immediately after the Beatitude on persecution, the comparison of the Christian
to salt shows how important the influence for good is that the Christian wields
in the world. We are to help preserve, flavor
and purify the society in which we live by setting a godly example and
counteracting corruption. To do this,
the Christian must be genuine, holy and obedient to God’s direction. Think of as many good qualities of salt as
you can. It was an everyday product with
valuable uses to which Christ compared a true believer in Him. Salt was ordinary, but oh, so extraordinary
and useful!
In historical
research for columns I’ve written, I came across some Civil War letters posted
by leaders in Fannin County, Georgia to Governor Joseph Emerson Brown, the man
who served our state for four two-year terms during the years leading up to and
during that war (Nov. 1857-June,1865).
More than one of the letters begged the governor to ship salt as soon as
possible to the mountains, for they had none for their cattle salt licks or for
use in curing meat or for seasoning food.
It was an urgent appeal and one expressing genuine need: salt, a
necessity. Likewise, in thinking of the
Christian’s influence as salt, we think of the necessity of good example and
virtuous living.
Jesus said that
if the salt loses its savor, or saltiness, it is good for nothing except to be
trodden under feet of men. We have
historical accounts that ancient roads were actually paved with such salt—that which
had lost its potency as a preservative and a flavoring. The alternative, rather than to waste what
had been taken from the salt mines or else extracted from sea water in a slow
process was to spread it on roadways when the product became flavorless to make
roads smoother. That may not have been
the original intent for the salt, but it was a way to make it useful. Relating the metaphor to a Christian, the “salt that has lost its savor” applies
to those who take on the characteristics of worldliness and are no longer an
influence for good. Christians must feel
that they have a flavor given them by the Lord Christ, different from the
world, and making a definite difference in society. Let us pray for this “saltiness” in our own
lives!
-Ethelene
Dyer Jones 05.18.2014
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