Pass the Salt

After the beatitudes, Jesus uses two metaphors, salt and light, to describe how His followers should live in this world  The first one Jesus uses is salt and here is what He says in Matthew 5:13:  13 “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men. 

Over the years there have been many interpretations offered for what Jesus meant by comparing His followers to salt.  He could have meant that salt is a preservative and that followers of Jesus serve a sort of “preserving” function against the evil in this world and the influence that Christians can have in justice issues.  He could have been emphasizing the “stinging” nature of how salt feels in a wound as the salt helps in the healing process.  We also know that salt was a very valuable commodity in the first century.  Roman soldiers were sometimes paid in salt; thus the phrase, “he isn’t worth his salt”.  Believers are certainly given great value.

In our world today we often use salt to enhance the flavor of our food.  That’s the idea I would like us to focus on today.  Isn’t it amazing that God can use people like you and me to help others to understand more about who He is?  We can actually be a tool in God’s hands to help God look more “flavorable” to others.  How do we do this?  Well, since these words come at the end of the Beatitudes, I think we have our answer.  As we live lives that are blessed by God, often when we are needy, our lives will be noticed by others.  When we show mercy, we enhance someone’s ability to see God’s mercy.  When we bless those who persecute us, we enhance someone else’s ability to see God’s grace and forgiveness.

So, today when you see your salt shaker on the counter or the table, ask yourself, “How am I enhancing someone else’s “taste” of God?