Matthew 5.13 Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.
These are the words of Salt Incarnate, Jesus Christ. He is speaking to His disciples. This is before He goes to the cross and is raised from the dead. He is describing the kind of life that we are to live in a world that is fallen, broken and lost. We are to live a life that brings healing, truth and life to those who are sick, seduced by lies and dead in trespasses and sins. The body of Christ is a mobile hospital on two legs. We are to be a Christ-driven, love-driven people. But once again we hear Jesus say that salt that has lost its flavor is good for nothing.
Salt in a wound will cause an impact that will result in the healing of an infection. Salt in your food will enhance the food you are eating by adding flavor to it. Salt will make a difference. But real salt cannot be neutral. When we read the gospels, we see that Salt Incarnate was moved with compassion when He saw the lost. So should we be.
Salt Incarnate was angry when His Father’s house was being used as a means of financially ripping off the people of God. So should we. Salt Incarnate rebuked those who elevated man-made traditions above obedience to the Word of God. So should we. Salt Incarnate laid the truth right on the table to the rich young ruler, Nicodemus, the woman at the well and the self-righteous religionists of His day. So should we. Salt Incarnate was a friend of publicans and sinners. So should we. Salt Incarnate would say to those that savored the will of man over the will of God, get thee behind me Satan. So should we.
Salt is good: but if the salt have lost his saltness, wherewith will ye season it? Have salt in yourselves, and have peace one with another. It is useless to try to influence others for good if things are not right with us, beginning with our relationships within the church. If the church loses its salt, will it cancel itself out? When The Son of Man returns, will He find faith on the earth? May we drop our swords of philosophical nonsense, spun with a religious twist and really be followers of Salt Incarnate, beloved. When we are following Jesus, we will be rubbing the salt of God into people’s lives, not some homespun tapestry of terminology that means absolutely nothing to someone who is sick, deceived and dead.
