Pounding salt

“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.”  Matthew 5:13

It is funny… many of the same people who essentially told Jesus to “go pound salt” when He was doing miracles (His brother James being one of them – see John 7:3-5) would someday become the salt of the earth.

As Christians we are meant to spice up the world.

I had Indian food last night.  And it was good.  Some of it was very spicy.  Some too spicy for me.   The spices stayed with me for a while.  Everything I ate after that had the taste of these Indian spices.

Are we too spicy for certain people?  Do we come across too hard?  Do we come across not hard enough?

We cannot be so afraid of speaking the truth that we deliver a bland gospel, with no lasting taste.

We want to leave a taste for Jesus in their mouths.  We want them to be reminded of Him with everything they take in.

We are salt.  But we cannot lose our savior… oops, did I mean savour?  Actually, no… I meant Savior.  I wanted to throw that in there to give you assurance that, when you truly accept Christ, nothing can snatch you out of His hand. 

But what of losing our savour?

When Jesus asks, “wherewith shall it be salted?” He is asking a rhetorical question.  He is the answer.

If you feel that you aren’t leaving a taste for Christ in the mouths of those you meet… you need to soak in Jesus.  Soaking salt in salt water, and letting it dry just enough brings back some taste.

We need to soak in Him.

Yes, there is an exhortation here that some will lose their flavor and be cast out, but those are the ones who never take Jesus in.  They take in the experience of religion, not the experience of relationship.

And when the world comes against you, as the salt of the earth, and they pound on you… joy in the knowledge that you are sharing in the sufferings of Christ.

Get pounded.

SDG