Matthew 5:13

New International Version (NIV)

“You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.

For meditation

1. How tasty is food without salt? No matter how many rich ingredients you use to prepare a meal or the time you invest in preparing it, do you realize how tasteless your food could be without salt?
2. Do you also realize the importance of salt as a preservative for food and other perishable essentials by folks without refrigerators, and an excellent antiseptic agent? Do you see the wisdom of God in making the sea so salty? With all the pollutants that spew into the sea, how could the world survive for a day without its salty waters?
3. So, do you realize how priceless salt is? Do you see how precious and needful it is to our lives; how invaluable it is for our survival here on earth? How can we do without it, and how can we fail to be thankful to God for it?
4. Now, do you realize what it means for Jesus to call you, “the salt of the earth” (Matthew 5:13)? Can you feel the weight of it? Do you see how important you are in God’s plan for the preservation of the earth and its sparkle? Do you see how this sick and dying world needs you because of the gospel you bear and the life and witness that flow from it through you?
5. How then can you fail to remain salty? Can salt be useful by just sitting on the table? Does it not have to be shaken and sprinkled on food for its flavor to be enjoyed? How then can you just sit around people without getting involved and affecting their lives for Christ?
6. How then can you go defiling yourself with the pollutants of this world and expect to affect it for Christ? How can the world embrace eternal values if your life doesn’t sparkle for them to see Christ? How could the gospel be attractive to the people around you if your life is dull and bland?

I pray you will keep yourself pure and tasty despite the filth of this world; for you’re the salt of the earth because of Christ in you. Therefore, make yourself useful to the world around you.

May you go out there and ‘shake’ your new life in Christ wherever you go, sprinkling its saltiness on the lives of the people around you; and may the world be better because of you, and Christ be glorified by your life!

Shalom