Job 6:6 Can that which is tasteless be eaten without salt.
Unseen yet inevitable ingredient in food is salt. The food we eat becomes tasteless and useless if not seasoned with salt. As we are aware, other than flavouring food, it is used as a preservative and for skin care. Middle Eastern babies are salted at birth to strengthen the tender skin. Metaphorically, the influence of a child of God in this dark and desperate world is compared to the flavour of salt. Our presence need not be prominent yet must be powerful; unseen yet influential; unnoticed or celebrated yet flavourful. After dinner only the tasty dish gets all the credit yet, without salt the dish would be tasteless, flavourless and useless. We must be the unseen ingredient that adds flavour, savour and power to the lives around us. Colossians 4:6 Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt. Power of salt is unseen and invisible, yet dominant.
Jesus said we are like salt to this world. Matthew 5:13 “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. Question is, can salt lose its favour? Jesus commanded us to be salt and also warned us not to lose our saltiness. Salt in the natural and saltiness in the spiritual can both be lost if not contained, controlled and cosseted.
Three warnings in the natural and spiritual to contain our saltiness:
1. Contaminated: Text out of context will be meaningless. Jesus was addressing the Jewish commoner who extracted salt from the dead sea. Contaminated salt from the dead sea contained impurities such as boron, magnesium, and bromides which will make the food distasteful and inedible! Similarly, if we are contaminated by the opinions of the world, vain philosophies, theories, cheap pleasures and sinful nature we will contaminate the flavour of Christ and taste yucky to the people around us. There are people who can pray superfluous prayers but speak unwholesome dialogues and slander. Such people are contaminated salt that has lost its saltiness. Beware of being contaminated by the deception.
2. Diluted: Dissolving salt in water and re-crystallising makes salt lose its flavour. The chemical components change its nature and lose its saltiness. Similarly, if we water down the truth, soft pedal facts and downplay reality we will be pushed into compromise. Such people can make no difference nor can they add any flavour to the lives around them. The flavour of Christ has been diluted to an extent that they have no savour of Christlikeness left in them. It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet. Beware of being diluted by compromise.
3. Reaction: One other way salt can lose its saltiness is by chemical reaction. The chemical bond between sodium and chlorine is very tight. Only under intense electricity the closely bound components of salt can be broken. When we are under pressure, trial or stress, we can lose our bond with Christ and lose our saltiness and flavour. In the natural the salt can lose its flavour under electricity but in the spiritual, pressure should pump in more power and protection and intensify our bond with Christ. Pressure should make us savoury and not separate us from Christ. Beware of chemical reaction that could make you sour and lose your saltiness.
We must be extremely conscious not to lose the flavour of Christ even under difficult and challenging circumstances.
Mark 9:50 Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another.
Prayer: Heavenly Father help me to be the salt, flavour and savour to the people around me and never to lose the flavour of Christ in me even under tough trials. Amen
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