Are You the Salt of the Earth?

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Scripture Matthew 5:13

13 “You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet.

Devotion

All of us who were raised “in the church” know this scripture. Salt makes a great preservative. In Jesus day when there was no refrigeration food was preserved with salt. So, it is to be with the church. We are called to be the preservative in our culture. The thing which keeps culture from decaying. A look around at today’s world shows us how badly we have missed the mark in this regard. I am afraid we have greatly reduced our role in the world to where we are no longer performing this vital function.

Many individual churches and sometimes entire denominations have tried to be like sugar to the world. Sure, you can attract more people with sugar than with salt, but as Jesus said that is not our mission in the world. We sometimes water down God’s word to make it more attractive to the culture. Adding sugar to food improves the taste in the short term but hastens decay in the long term. We may get more people in the pews in the short run, but they will soon get tired of religion that only makes them fat and happy for the moment.

We need to get back to being salt. We may miss out on filling stadiums with people but the people who are there get fed a healthier diet and are more likely to last for the long term. The scriptures preservative effect will keep their spiritual “blood sugar” at a more stable level. I was recently hospitalized and one thing that worried my doctor was the fact my blood sugar was unstable, one time it would be high the next time low. Finally, we got it stabilized and my doctor and I felt much better. The church must get off its sugar high and start acting more like salt. It may not result in the need for overflow seating or adding another service, but it will make the people in the pews much more stable and less likely to “spoil”.

God will be pleased as his church grows and is healthy rather than a whole stadium full of people who are just there for the sweetness and leave as soon as a “salty” word is preached from the pulpit. And soon the whole batch is good for nothing but to be “trampled under people’s feet.

Prayer

            Lord make us salty. We want to be a preservative for people’s souls not sugar for their bellies. Show us how to be salty again. We want to reach the world for you show us your plan for church growth. Don’t leave us on the ground to be trampled underfoot. Lift our faces to the light of your glory so that we may reflect that glory to those around us.

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