They say art imitates life. Recently a comic strip caught my attention. A little boy asked his mother, “would you give me a dollar if I’ll be a good boy?” She replied, “Son, why don’t you be good for nothing like your dad.”!
Ouch …. You know, there are a lot of Christians who are exactly that. They are good for nothing. Jesus said they’re like salt that’s lost its savor. They are cast out, good for nothing but “to be trodden under foot of men.”
Why did Jesus use the metaphor “salt” to describe those who would be His followers?
In Jesus society, pure salt was often more valuable than gold. As a matter of fact, salt was a rare delicacy and often a medium of exchange. We get our word salary from salt. It literally means “salt-money,” hence the expression, “That man is worth his salt.”
Salt was valuable because of what it did. Salt causes flavor to come alive. And at the same time it preserves the meat it is rubbed into. In the book of Job, we read this question, “Can that which is unsavoury be eaten without salt? or is there any taste in the white of an egg?” (Job 6:6).
Most people are simply living bland, flavorless lives. That’s the reason so many are striving to find some kind of a “high.” There’s no excitement, no thrill. Their lives are tasteless. It’s “the bland leading the bland.”
Christians must be different! Because we have the Spirit of God living and flowing through us – We should give flavor and zest to life. That’s the reason the Bible says in Colossians 4:6a, “Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt.”
Rev Ran 🙂