[Jesus said] “Salt is good, but if the salt has lost its saltiness, with what will you season it? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another.†     Mark 9:50 (WEB)
My pastor preached about being salty yesterday. The title was “Have Salt in Yourselfâ€. I came away considering the Church. Why do we avoid being salty?
Just think about foods that we eat every day and consider how they would taste without salt. Eggs. Tomatoes. French fries. Some foods like olives and pickles would not even exist without salt. Without salt in these foods, they would be defined as bland. Most of us are not attracted to bland food. How many are attracted to bland Church? When you think of Jesus and His words and ministry, does the word bland come to mind? No, not for me either.
[LORD said,]“Every offering of your meal offering you shall season with salt; neither shall you allow the salt of the covenant of your God to be lacking from your meal offering. With all your offerings you shall offer salt.â€Â           Leviticus 2:13 (WEB)
Do you think Jesus was remembering His words to the Israelites when He spoke about saltiness several centuries later to His then disciples? When He speaks to me about saltiness? I think He is still trying to get His message across. We keep trying to water down His messages, making them bland and tasteless. We want to “fit in†and be “politically correct†more than we want to be ‘salty’ as Jesus exhorted us to be.
I am called by Jesus to bring flavor into the world. That flavor is to have characteristics like salt:
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good flavor, not bitter or sour
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balanced, putting the amount in that Jesus directs making the end product palatable, not bland but not too much which can produce nausea
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preserving that which is good
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of value; of worth. Salt was currency. What God wants me to give is not cheap but it is free.
The ministry of these devotions would be considered the saltiness that God has given to me to give away. Though I may see myself as only the scribe to His inspiring words, it is my choice to make the commitment to the ministry and to obediently write without tainting the salt of His words. (salt vs. garlic salt) God’s words may not always be what I want to hear but they are always what I need to hear. This is what we should be hearing and speaking to each other. Church is a place of saltiness. One of the ways I am replenished. It is a matter worthy of daily prayer.
