Is It Time To Change The Salt?

"You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again?  It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled under-foot by men" (Matt. 5:13). 

Hey Gang:  One of the very neat things about Jesus’ teaching is that He always used examples, analogies, and simple stories that all could understand but, sometimes it is necessary to know a little about the practices and mores of the day in order to get the drift of what He is saying.

In Jesus’ day the houses of the common laborer were very small with only one window, therefore, ventilation was a problem.  Baking inside was out of the question so they would build their ovens between the house and the road.  The ovens consisted of a dome and shelves on stilts. To aid in baking they would place a layer of salt on the bottom of the oven as a reflector of the heat.  After a number of baking’s, the salt would lose its reflective power and had to be replaced.  The salt was removed and thrown into the road for folks to walk on. 

Sooo, what is Jesus saying here?  We are to be reflectors of Jesus.  There was a saying that was popular a few years back: "What would Jesus do?”  Jesus was an imitator of the Father and He expects nothing less from His children. 

In the early days of the church folks who lost their first love and fell away from the faith were said to have "lost their salt".   Notice Jesus followed this verse with, "You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden nor does anyone light lamp and put it under a basket but on the lampstand and it give light to all who are in the house." (Matt. 5:14-`15).

Stop, read the verse again, and read it from the context that God is laying a blessing on each believer.  I would suggest that this was the greatest compliment that was ever paid to the individual Christian, for in it Jesus commands the Christian to be what He Himself claimed to be.  Jesus did say, "As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world" (John 9:5).  What is He saying? "Hey gang, be like Me!"  Wow, awesome!

Jesus summed up His teaching on "letting your light shine" by saying, "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven" (vs.5:16)

In Scripture "salt and light" are like "bread and water".    I sense the point Jesus was making was you/we are the light of the world, as long as we keep our salt fresh. And how do we do that?  By keeping our swords sharpened with the Word and keep our relationship strong with the Abba Father, through prayer. 

Soooo, my young friends, I repeat “How’s your salt?.  As a little twerp I always enjoyed a special excitement when we sang two songs, one Jesus Loves me this I know".  Our teacher always stopped and asked the question, "How do we know?”  And in unison a combined chorus of all the little twerps would cry out "For the Bible tells me so".  And the second was "This Little Light of Mine, I'm going to let it shine".  In later years I added a third, "Lord Make Me a Sanctuary".  I have placed it in my will that these three songs be sung at my going away party. 

Blessings,

 Gramps