Salt of the earth

Mat 5:2  And he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying…

 

Mat 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.

 

Would you USE salt if it had no flavor to it?

What would be the point in using salt in our food if it added nothing to the food. In and of itself the salt isn't something we can eat very much of, but add it to our food and it gives it amazing new flavors. It can take a very bland meal and make it any thing but bland. Salt has amazing powers to transform the taste of the foods we eat. A lot of chefs will tell you that people make the mistake of using too little salt but that robs the food of it's potential flavor. Go to restaurants where they have no trouble adding a lot of salt to their food and people enjoy eating their immensely. They don't have to overly concern themselves with the amount of salt they are getting, it's a special treat. They're indulging themselves. Without the salt in most of our processed food, we would not eat much of it. Time and again I've tried low salt soups and inevitably there are complaints about it just not tasting good. Yes, it's probably healthier not to eat so much salt, but even recently there was an article in some magazine about how maybe, just maybe salt has been given a really bad rap-undeservedly and it's not quite as bad for you as it's been made to seem.  Of course that's neither here nor there, the fact remains that leave the salt out of your food and you will know right away that something is missing.

 

So back to the question- would you use salt if it had not flavor to it, if it added nothing to your food?

 

No.  There would be no point. It would be like adding tasteless grit for absolutely no reason.  You would not bother to add something to your food that brought no value to it. Every single ingredient put into the various recipes you make has it's purpose.  Even if that purpose is to add color to a colorless meal, it has a purpose.

Salt without it's ability to be salty would be useless just as the dirt of the ground, you wouldn't eat the dirt.

WE ARE THE SALT OF THE EARTH.

 

As the salt of the earth we have something to give to others, something of great benefit.  If we do NOT have anything to give, if we've lost our ability to reveal Christ to others as we LIVE for HIM, SUFFER for HIM, MOURN for HIM, are POOR in SPIRIT for HIM, as we are REVILED and PERSECUTED for HIM, then we are as pointless as salt that adds NOTHING to the things being salted.

 

Our lives are to be revelations of CHRIST to the world.

Not just an hour a week part of us, not just a daily blog, not just a single day set aside, not just being good in many ways, not just about giving to the poor, helping the needy, or even reading God's word. Our ENTIRE lives are to be revelations of CHRIST.

 

If we are revealing Christ in our lives to others we are not Christ's. We can pretend to be Christ's, we can imagine ourselves as being His as we willfully sin over and over without any true repentance, but that's all it is- pretend.

 

Salt of the earth.

 

If you heard that saying in a movie, one person telling another they're the salt of the earth, what would you imagine it meant? That they were a good person, a worthy person, down to earth, reliable. 

 

Our Savior wants us to learn that being the salt of the earth with great savor, with something to offer to those around us is a great thing. To be someone who has nothing to offer others is not to be such a great thing at all.

 

The following verses go hand in hand with the lesson being taught-

 

Mat 5:2  And he opened his mouth, and taught them, saying…

 

Mat 5:14  Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.

Mat 5:15  Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.

Mat 5:16  Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

 

The light of the world.

A city on a hill- unable to be hidden.

A candle on a candlestick- not hidden under a bush but lighting up all around it.

 

WE are these things!

 

How are we these things?!

 

We have to let those around us SEE OUR GOOD WORKS-and know they are of GOD and glorify GOD.

 

Our lives are to be spent as living witnesses of CHRIST, not as self-absorbed, self obsessed, egotistical people. 

 

If all our lives do is reflect ourselves- there is NO GLORIFYING God in that, none.  He is to be GLORIFIED in us!

 

Others are to KNOW that any good that comes from us in reality comes from our GOD, we are not to take any glory for ourselves. We won't want to as we realize without our GOD we have nothing, we are nothing!

 

God is all things!

 

Those suffering can glorify God because they KNOW their suffering is for a purpose most likely far beyond their ability to comprehend, yet they TRUST in GOD, knowing HE is in CONTROL of ALL THINGS! The ETERNITY offered with HIM is the prize, the working towards that prize is all the pain and suffering, all the abuse we suffer here and now. Only comprehending this do we find a reason for life being what it is. Only in this comprehension can we find real HOPE.

 

This existence is NOT all there is for us and this is the message our Savior came to bring to the world. There is HOPE of existing with HIM in heaven, in a new earth!

 

Our HOPE is CHRIST and this is the HOPE we must share with the world! 

 

Our good works are the works that come from HIS lessons! Our good works are works that point to HIM!

By HIS grace and love, by HIS mercy and forgiveness, by HIS amazing existence we can have HOPE!

 

There is SO MUCH MORE THAN LIFE AS WE KNOW IT TO BE!

 

We are living the life of a caterpillar, slinking about on our bellies on short little legs right now but we have the HOPE of becoming butterflies, God's butterflies! He will transform us. We live untransformed here and now and we enter the cocoon of death's sleep and by GOD'S GRACE we will be awakened by HIM when He returns and transformed into new beings we will fly to meet Him in the air and EVER BE WITH HIM! 

 

Right now our lives might be great big messes in the worldly sense, but by faith in our God they can still be revelations for others of GOD'S LOVE, our lives can glorify GOD.