The Salt of the Earth

I have a confession to make: I don’t’ have a sweet tooth. In fact, I don’t really like cake. I have a “salty tooth.” I find it hard to resist popcorn (especially when watching a movie in the theater), peanuts, potato chips, corn chips… (I think you get the picture). We often hear how salt contributes to high blood pressure as a result of water retention (which explains my puffy appearance). However, there are a lot of positive things about salt. As a seasoning, salt contributes a pleasant flavor (sometimes the only flavor some foods have). There are also health benefits: the body needs sodium in order to function normally. Salt is an important preservative – rubbing salt into meat or adding it to cheese or canned foods preserve them. Salt is also used as a cleansing agent in soaps.

That’s why I found it interesting that salt is referred to so often in Scripture. Salt is referred to over 50 times in Scripture. In the Old Testament, salt was used as a symbol of the covenant (“the salt of the covenant”) and was included in sacrifices (Leviticus 2:13; Numbers 18:19; Ezra 6:9; 7:22). Most famously, Jesus described his followers as salt. “You are the salt of the earth” (Matthew 5:13). Jesus simply says that his followers are salt – we are tasty, healthy, preserving people. We don’t have salt, we are salt. Salt sitting in a shaker on the shelf is not meaningful – salt always has a specific function. We are to have that function, and perhaps surprisingly, in the world. As Jesus followers we are to provide a pleasant flavor everywhere we go. We are to provide health benefits as we go through life. We are a preserving agent in the world.

Unfortunately, if salt sits around too long, unused, it begins to lose its saltiness, and can no longer function the way designed for it. That’s why Jesus went on to say, “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). When salt became unsalty, it was just thrown onto the trash heap. What’s even more alarming is the statement that unsalty salt will be “trampled underfoot.” In fact, according to Luke’s account Jesus went on to say, “Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile; it is thrown out” (Luke 14:34-35). I wouldn’t tell my worst enemy (on a sanctified day) that they weren’t even fit for the manure pile. But salt that looses is saltiness is not really fit for anything. Salt is designed to have a positive influence in every case and in a variety of ways. The opposite of being a positive influence is to simply be a “doormat” in the world. Instead, when Jesus defined us as salt, he was also defining certain kinds of influence.

Jesus made other interesting statements about his followers being salt in the world. “Everyone will be salted with fire” (Mark 9:49). Some of the fiery trials we experience have the ability to add to our saltiness. When we experience the Lord’s preservation, we can contribute to the preservation of others. Having experienced God’s grace in life can make us more flavorful. Jesus also said, “Have salt among yourselves, and be a peace with each other” (Mark 9:50). If we are functioning as “Jesus salt,” we will have a positive influence on each other; the way we relate to each other will reflect our saltiness. If we are serving as salt, we will be at peace with each other (rather than trampling and being trampled).

The apostle Paul used salt in a similar way. “Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone” (Colossians 4:6). Here Paul specifically addresses our conversation, the way we communicate with each other. Salty speech will be “full of grace,” it will minister grace with the words. A salty person will “know how to answer everyone” – wisdom is an important element to conversation that flavors and preserves.

As Jesus followers, because we have been brought into God’s family by grace, because the Spirit of God is at work in our lives, because the Word of God is forming a new way of thinking and living, we are salt. We can’t help but be salt – that is who we are. However, we do have a choice: we can be salty or not, we can provide all the benefits that come from salt or we can find ourselves on the trash heap being trampled on. We can be a Kingdom influence everywhere we go, or we can go through life without anyone really noticing the difference God’s grace has made in our lives.

What if we find that we are beginning to lose our saltiness? A similar question was posed by the Lord to the church at Laodicea (Revelation 3:14-22). The Laodicean believers had become lukewarm, salty mineral water, fit only to induce vomiting. But they had a “positive confession”: “I am rich, I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing” (3:17). They literally said, “I have no need.” They didn’t see or feel their need, and ultimately that included their need for an intimate, personal relationship with Jesus. As a result, they lost their saltiness. Fortunately, Jesus prescribed a cure in two parts: “Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent” (3:19). They were to “burn with fire,” fanning into flame their first love, and they were to “repent,” to realize their need and turn back to God with their whole heart. Then Jesus said, “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with that person, and they with me” (3:20). They were to take the time to hear Jesus knocking on the door; they were to get up from their complacency and self-sufficiency, and open the closed door of their hearts to Jesus. If they did, their intimacy with Jesus would be renewed and their saltiness would be restored.

You are salt. You are God’s preservative in the world. How salty are you? What kind of influence do you add to your world? Are you beginning to lose some of your saltiness? If so, turn and hear Jesus knocking. He’s ready to enter into a new level of fellowship with you and make you salty again. Remember: it is only transformed people that transform the world.