Salt for the Earth

## It’s Good; Real Good

When Hyesun and I first married, some minor disagreements were on how much salt, sugar, etc. should be used on food. When I would salt something on my plate, she would give me a look or make a strange Korean sound, and I would say to her, “Jesus said salt is good. Luke 14:34”. She would say, “not too much.” To which I would reply, “He said nothing about how much.” She changed my taste buds over time, and now most American desserts are as a pile of sugar to me. But I endeavor to hold on to salt! Why? Jesus said it’s good! And I agree.

## How Good Is It?

He of course isn’t talking about literal salt but salt as a picture of the Christian. Yet we can still look at some of the literal uses of salt to see how it can be applied to the Christian walk. It can be used as an abrasive scrub to get rid of everything from pots and pans stains to tooth stains to dandruff and dead skin. Absorbs and removes smells (from bad breath to shoes). Removes the sting/itch from bites/rashes. It prevents mold and bacteria from growing. Since it was used before we had refrigeration, it’s the whole reason we have salty country ham! Depending on who you read, it creates “uncrossable barriers” either for ants or evil spirits (LOL!). In Mark, this statement about salt is couched with the idea of taking extreme measures to be separate from sin (Mark 9:42-50). In Matthew, Jesus couples it with another symbolic idea about us being light. “You are Light. Contrast the darkness. You are salt. Contrast the regular taste of the world.”

When I consider God making salt from His infinite wisdom, He engineered its many uses, and then when He came in flesh, He used it as a teaching tool to His followers based on those uses. He means for us to be to the world “an abrasive scrub to get rid of the stains of sin; to absorb and remove the stench of life and the sting of death. We are to prevent the mold and bacteria of the filth of culture from growing. We are to be the “un-crossable barrier” for evil in this world.

## Self-Check

Luke 14:34-35 “...but if salt has lost its taste, how shall it’s saltiness be restored?....It is no use...” No use? No purpose to serve? Salt was made for purposes, and when those aren’t met, it’s thrown out. The Salt of the Earth, the Christian, was made for a purpose too.

## When the Poo is Hot!