Matthew 5:13 New
International Version (NIV)
13 “You are the
salt of the earth. 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.
How can salt lose
its saltiness? Salt will always taste of salt. Maybe our Lord was
talking about rock salt. If rock salt is ground and repeatedly shaken
with water all that remains is s little sand. The salt is dissolved
out. No salt remains. Bad weather would do this. Its only use would
be to reduce slipperiness on steps.
Salt acts as a
taste enhancer, preservative, cleanser and essential item of diet. So
should we be for the folk we live among. Living lives of divine joy
we should examples of the zest that can enhance human live. In these
days of moral laxity we can be examples of a purer way and being the
recipients of divine grace we are essential sources of the Gospel.
To use salt we
scatter it thinly. The early disciples were certainly spread thinly
but to the benefit of their witness. They were exposed to
persecution. We are exposed to a variety of adverse influences ; the
seductions of a liberal society, the erosion of being perpetually
ignored and the increasing hostility of academia. This is the bad
weather that would undo us.
To withstand these
onslaughts we must be more of what we truly are. We must turn to the
source of our saltiness, the Saviour Himself.
