Pass the Salt

“You are like salt for the whole human race. But if salt loses its saltiness, there is no way to make it salty again. It has become worthless, so it is thrown out and people trample on it.”  — Matthew 5:13 

Jesus was talking to a gathering of followers when He made the rather unusual claim that they were like salt. Sometimes we miss the significance of this statement because we tend to think of salt as flavoring—something added to a recipe in order to spice it up.  In Jesus time, however, salt was primarily used as a preservative to cure foods so that they would last longer. We still do this to some extent (salting pork or pickling vegetables) but check out the ingredients list on just about any processed food that you buy in the supermarket and you will see that we often use salt in our food to make it last longer. Salt is a preservative.

What does that mean then? It means that if you are a follower of Jesus, then your mere presence in a community or relationship helps to influence the people around you. This is pretty important to understand if you have ever had the thought that as a Christian God can’t use you—by your mere presence He does. I guess this is best illustrated at the beginning of the story of Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis 18:20-33.

Basically, the story goes that the LORD told Abraham that He was going to consider the reports He had heard of their evil and see if they deserved to be destroyed. Abraham asked Him if He would destroy the cities if there were fifty righteous people in it. The Lord said that He would spare Sodom and Gomorrah if fifty righteous people could be found. Then Abraham started working his way down the numbers to see just how tolerant God would be. He went from fifty to forty-five to forty to thirty to twenty and finally to just ten righteous people. The Lord agreed to spare Sodom and Gomorrah even if only ten righteous people could be found. Estimates of Sodom’s population range from 600-1,200. So if we take the conservative figure of 600 for Sodom and 600 for Gomorrah, we can see that it wouldn’t have taken much salt to preserve both cities, a mere 0.84%. Now I’m not suggesting that God gets out His calculator to see whom He will destroy or not depending on percentages. I don’t pretend to understand the complexities of God’s mind. However, what is clear is that even a little salt can preserve others. It’s sad and ironic that Sodom and Gomorrah most likely made their money from trading in salt.  But what they had in physical abundance, they lacked in sufficient spiritual quantities to prevent their destruction.

When I learned this, it changed the way I viewed my effect on those around me. I knew that it was not as hard to positively influence others as I had first thought because I already have an impact. I am already salt simply because I follow Jesus. Knowing this gives me greater confidence and motivation to be the example I need to be and to engage the way I need to. This is not because I think I am especially gifted, but because I know that Jesus said I am like salt. And as much as I am unsure about me, I trust Him completely. Combined with my wife, we can actually have a significant impact on our community, workmates and family by following Jesus.  People are watching.

That’s pretty cool, so pass the salt!

Questions to Share:

1. On a scale of 1-10, how salty do you think you are (1 being mildly salty and 10 being rock-hard salty)?

2. What people around you do you want to preserve?

3. What can you do to leverage the saltiness that you already have to better preserve those people?

4. Thank God that He has made you salt and ask the Holy Spirit to help you use that saltiness to best lead your community/family/workmates to know Christ.