Key Verse: “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.” (Matt. 5:13)
We sometimes describe good farm folks or humble, hardworking city folks as salt-of-the-earth people, and they may very well be that in one sense. Jesus uses the term somewhat differently. After laying out the values of the kingdom in the Beatitudes, He says to the disciples, “You are the salt of the earth,” meaning “you, my disciples, are the salt of the earth.” That’s a pretty tall order no matter how you understand it. Jesus was to leave a dozen apostles and a number of other followers in a small Middle Eastern land with this enormous responsibility.
We don’t know exactly what Jesus meant by this. Some Bible commentators suggest Jesus is referring to salt as a purifying agent, some believe He is thinking of it as a preservative, others focus on the fact that salt enhances flavor, and still others accept several of these as the explanation. No doubt, this is an interesting question, but is it the main question? Sometimes this kind of question can distract us from the main issue.
We can agree on this: the Lord’s meaning is that His disciples have a unique role in the world and to fulfill that role they are to be spiritually and morally distinct. We don’t need to understand whether the outcome is to be one of these functions of salt—purifying, preserving, or enhancing taste. What we do need to be concerned about is that we do not lose our distinctness, because “if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again?”
But how are we to avoid losing our saltiness? We could go to many tested and trusted formulas. We could think about trusting and obeying or daily prayer and Bible reading; we could talk about walking in the light or total surrender; we could consider discipleship or accountability programs; and the list could go on. All of these are biblical and useful. Some of them may have more appeal to some people, and others to other people. Regardless of which approach best suits you, the key is given by the Lord Himself in a different metaphor in His last days with His disciples:
“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5).
Whatever method or approach or emphasis we choose, the key is to remain in Christ, to abide in Christ, to stay vitally connected to the Savior. Our Christian life does not consist of applying new rules to the old life; it is the life of heaven flowing into us and through us. We have been born again, born of the Spirit, united with the True Vine to draw life from Him.
We have been given, says Peter, “everything we need for a godly life” (2 Pet. 1:3). We have been given about 1400 pages of instruction, more than enough for the rest of our lives. We have been given the Spirit, who will speak one scripture into your heart at one time and another into mine. We have access to the throne of grace and the promise of answered prayer (Heb. 4:16; John 14:13-14). We have the fellowship of believers (Rom. 12:10). We have all we need.
We need not argue over what was in the Savior’s mind when He said, “You are the salt of the earth.” What we need to do is maintain our saltiness, sustain that life He has given us by abiding in the Vine.
Prayer: Lord, help me to rest in You. Help me to faithfully, morning by morning, come to You for my daily sustenance. Help me to walk through the day with the consciousness of Your presence. And help me to lie down at night with the peace that comes from remaining in Your fellowship and demonstrating the fruit of the Spirit.
Author: Lindsay Hislop was raised in southern Scotland and southern Ontario and now lives in the southern United States. He worked in the engineering field for 15 years (mostly in Canada) before pursuing an academic career. He has taught for over thirty years at Columbia International University. He also serves as an elder in his church, where he teaches and preaches regularly. He is married to a wonderful wife Pam and has two terrific children, Holly, who lives in Canada, and Doug, who lives in Columbia. His four grandchildren, Isaac, Madeline, Lindsay, and Dolan, are also pretty special. He likes doing carpentry and odd jobs around the house.
