"Salt"

"Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men." Matthew 5:13 

When Jesus said that we were the salt of the earth, there was also a warning attached to it. The warning was not to lose your savor/saltiness.

How do we lose our saltiness? There were four ways, that I discovered, according to the Bible that we can lose our savor. The first way deals with the way we treat the word of God and His commandments. Immediately after Jesus referred to His followers as light and salt, He went on to say, in context, if we neglect the word of God, if we don’t build our lives upon its teachings, if we compromise it and water it down, if we live in disobedience to it, then we stand the risk of losing our savor.

The next way we lose it is by forsaking the covenant that we are in with God. If we start serving other “gods”- money, entertainment, pleasure, selfish desires, fame and popularity, or anything else above God- then we are in danger of losing our saltiness.

The third way is by putting our trust in man and having our confidence in the “arm of flesh”- human strength and ability- instead of in God. 

 

The last way is by doing the same thing that Lot’s wife did. God graciously and mercifully delivered Lot’s family out of Sodom before the judgment fell upon the city. God told them to leave the city and don’t look back. Lot’s wife disobeyed and looked back. When she did, she was turned into a pillar of salt. She became an unsavory lump of salt good for nothing but to be trampled underfoot. When she looked back, she wasn’t just “glancing” to get a “peek” at what was happening. She was in disobedience to God’s command not to look back. Disobedience is a slow road to losing your savor. One disobedient act leads to another one and pretty soon you are in rebellion- and unsavory. But with Lot’s wife the reason she was turned to a pillar of salt goes deeper than even her disobedience. Jesus used her as a warning to us. “Remember Lot’s wife”. (Luke 17:32) Read the verse with me in context. “Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed. In that day, he which shall be upon the housetop, and his stuff in the house, let him not come down to take it away: and he that is in the field, let him likewise not return back. Remember Lot's wife. Whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it.” (vs. 30-33) The words “looked back” mean to have regard for. Lot’s wife looked back with longing and desire. She was longing for her house, her possessions, all the things she had and had to leave. Her heart was still in her material possessions, and she looked back desiring to have them and with remorse for having to leave them. 

 

Looking back with desire to the things that God delivered us from and trying to hold on to material things will cause us to lose our saltiness. That was Jesus’ warning. If you try to hold on to your life you will lose it instead. Let the “things” go. Don’t hold on to them in your heart. Don’t long for what you once had and turn from what the Lord has for you now. He is trying to take you to a place of “safety” so that you can live- just like He tried to do for Lot’s wife. But if you “look back” it will only turn you into a lump of useless, worthless salt instead of the wonderful aroma and flavor of Christ that you are called to be in the earth. 

 

Have a great day. Is your life salty? Or have you lost your saltiness? 

 

For further reading:

Matthew 5:17,18

Deuteronomy 29:23-26

Jeremiah 17:5-7

Genesis 19:26