Jesus is Essential
Matthew 5:13: You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men.
The underlying implication of his saying, “You are the salt of the earth” is that the world tends toward decomposition and is actually rotting away. Jesus was under no illusion about the world apart from himself. When the world is left to itself, it festers and putrefies, for the germs of evil are everywhere present and active. The world began as a perfect creation, but when sin came, decay set in, and as a result the world became rotten, so that God eventually removed nearly the entire population of the world by the Flood.
Given another chance, man fell into immediate debauchery, leading after a time to Sodom and Gomorrah. We live in a world that constantly tends toward decay. Some of the Christless structures of the world may look okay, but inside they are rotting away, and it is just a matter of time before they fall. Jesus was saying in effect, “Humanity without me is a dead body that is rotting and falling apart. The church must be rubbed into the world—into its rotting flesh and wounds so that it might be preserved. 1
Walking with Jesus
Is your life bringing the right seasoning of salt to your closest friends? Are you known for being too abrasive to an open wound, or are you a provider of the Holy Spirit’s healing ointment of grace and truth?
Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one. Colossians 4:6
Christians are a divine salt shaker. So pour yourself out generously upon this hurting, lost, and lonely world. – TWEET IT
Praying
Lord, thank You for redeeming my life and making me a salt shaker for Your glory!
1. Hughes, R. K. (2001). The sermon on the mount: the message of the kingdom. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books.
