Matthew 5:13 AMP
You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste (its strength, its quality), how can its saltiness be restored? It is not good for anything any longer but to be thrown out and trodden underfoot by men.
Salt is vital and so readily available and accessible that it is found in both the rich man and the poor man’s home. We put salt in the food and not the other way around. Jesus asked us to go into the world just as we put the salt into the food. Though you put only a small amount of salt in the food, the whole dish acquires the taste of the salt. This can be described in one word. . . . Influence.
Though the salt is in small amounts, its influence is huge, and it adds flavour to the food. That is what God has called out to do, influence the environment we are placed in and add some God’s flavour into it.
Salt is also a preservative. It slows down the process of decay. We live in a world that is on a steep slope of moral decay, and we must stand out as the salt to slow down that process and bring people into the kingdom through our influence.
Though we are in this world, we are not of this world, and we should not be influenced by the patterns of this world.
Think about the birth of the church with the 120 in the upper room and the infilling of the Holy Spirit. From there, though they were a small band of people, they went out and as they influenced those around them, God added daily to their number those who believed.
As the salt, have we allowed the world to influence us, or can they feel our influence? Can our saltiness be felt in the midst of the confusion? Are we becoming more like the world, or can the world testify of our saltiness?
Everyday God gives us the opportunity to influence others, and just like salt, we are to stand out in the midst of a corrupt and evil society.
Walking with Jesus is what gives us our saltiness, being doers of the word and not just hearers is what it will take to maintain our saltiness. Like Daniel and Esther, we have to be willing to stand our ground right in the midst of a cruel and harsh environment. We have to be the influencers because greater is He who lives in us than he who lives in the world. We have to stand up and be counted!
Reflections.
Can God’s flavour be felt where he has planted you, or has the worldly flavour overwhelmed your saltiness?
A pinch of salt affects a whole plate of food, do you believe that God wants to use you to change your community? Are you a willing vessel?
How are you slowing down the process of decay in your community?
