Post Office Box 2268, Westerly, RI 02891
Matthew 5:13 - "You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt has
lost its quality, with what shall it be salted? It is thereafter good for nothing but to
be thrown out and walked on by people."
Colossians 4:6 - "Let your conversation be gracious, seasoned, as
it were with salt, so that you may know how you should respond to each person.
It's happened again! Summer has turned into fall, and it seems that everything and
everybody has gotten into the act. A beach bum turned into a student. A backpack turned
into a pair of shoulder pads. A swimsuit turned into a sweater. And the burning summer sun
turned into the burning midnight oil. Suggestion: let your summer sugar turn into
September salt!
Jesus said in Matthew 5:13, "you are the salt of the earth."
What did He mean by that? Flavor-people? No! Small insignificant grains in a large world?
No! In what way are we the salt of the earth? A little background in the use of salt at
the time of Christ will help. Before the days of refrigeration, salt was used as a
preservative. You couldn't buy your meat and store it indefinitely in a freezer. Your only
chance for delaying the decay and corruption of your steaks was to impregnate them with
salt.
As Christians, we are to hold in check the spread of sin in this world.
Our lives are to have the effect of preventing the advance of corruption even though
spiritual and moral decay may surround us. Jesus says that our presence in the locker room
or college dorm should to some degree stifle the spread of sinful ideas, stories or
actions. Are you a grain of salt in the particular segment of society in which God has
placed you? The Bible says in Colossians 4:6 that our speech or conversation must not only
be nice (gracious) but also guarded and pungently powerful (seasoned with salt). And
sometimes it really takes guts!
Salt is not a preservative because it actively does something to
"cure" decay, but rather, by its very nature, it prevents the spread of
corruption. Just so, as Christians we cannot "cure" this world of sin, but the
influence of our Christian living can and must arrest moral decay that is present in this
world. Are you a Christian? Then you are a grain of salt that God has specifically placed
in your school or job or wherever you are. There may not be too many other active grains
around, so do your thing!
The Lord Jesus said that salt could become tasteless or lose its tang.
In those days the salt in Israel was often mixed with saline and earthy deposits from the
Dead Sea flats, from which the salt could dissolve out, leaving only a tasteless and
useless residue. When salt lost its pungent power it could be no longer used as a
preservative. It wasn't good for anything and was thrown out on the ground and walked on!
Instead of preventing the spread of decay and corruption in our immediate surroundings we
become part of the problem. No longer are we active servants in the kingdom of our Lord.
We've fallen down on the job and the enemy has "walked all over us". Our lives
and voices are now powerless and silent. (Read Revelation 3:15-16 for parallel thought.)
Every September on every campus the process of spiritual and moral decay
begins its activity once again. Salt is needed! God may have given you a sweet sugar
summer, but now He's looking for September salt. "You are the salt of the
earth."
David R. Reid
Back to Devotions For Growing Christians
Topics with titles starting with A-K
Topics with titles starting with L-Z