Mar 2, 2007 - Why Salt?
Mar 2, 2007
Continuing from yesterday's theme:
Mat 5:13 WTNTWhy are we the salt of the earth?
(13) ¶ Ye are the salt of the earth: but and if the salt be once unsavory, what can be salted there with? It is thence forth good for nothing, but to be cast out at the doors, and that men tread it under feet.
William Tyndale New Testament
Did you know, that even though we have thousands of smells we can smell, we only have four tastes that we can taste. The taste buds are on thetongue and it is basically divided up into four regions: bitter, sour, sweet and salty.
God could have made us the bitter of the earth. Objects that when people hear the Gospel will not like it and spit it out. I do not think that would be a good idea. Anything that is bitter is usually a sign ofpoison that needs to be spit out. I guess we could have been the poison of the world.
God could have made us the sour of the earth. Guess some people did not get the message with their sour expressions. Something sour is usually something you do not want to eat or drink. If it is especially sour it can bring a strong man to his knees. Ever play with the candies 'Warheads.' While I do not like the sour taste, I can withstand it because once you get past the intense sour taste there is a nice tasting candy inside. I saw someone try to eat one after I did and there was tears in his eyes because being a big strong macho guy he did not want to admit that little old me could handle something better that he could not. In the end he wound up spitting it out of his mouth. And very ofter that is what people do with sour stuff.
God could have made up the sweet of the earth. Sounds good doesn't it. Where ever we go people will love us because we taste so good. We are also empty calories that add weight to a person while providing no nutritional value. Stuff that if left to eat too much of can cause a chemical imbalance calleddiabetes which left untreated can cause the body to loose important parts (the body of Christ is a good comparison).
No, we are the salt of the earth. What are the properties of salt. I could be a little silly and say to look at salt under a microscope and see that it looks like little cubes. Are we the squares of the earth? Maybe. Salt has some interesting qualities:
- It is a preservative - It is used to keep meat from spoiling. By salting the meat, it can last a much longer time that if there was no salt added. Without it meat would corrupt. With out us as salt, what would happen to the world?
- It is a healer:
- Smelling salts help to revive someone knocked unconscious - do we revive an unconscious world?
- Muscle relaxant - Epsom salts help to revive a worn out body - do was act as a place where the world can relax with us so we can spread the word?
- A cleanser - salt in the wounds - cleanses and disinfects - Do we act as a disinfectant or are we so much like the world that we are no good as salt? Yes it hurts, but anything good for you may have to hurt a little.
- Seasoning - It adds flavor to food. Too much and it is not able to be eaten, too little and the food is bland. Salt can season the world but must be careful of thebalance that it uses.
- In order to be used it must be broken. Ever see salt get clogged in the salt shaker. By nature salt wants to bind to other salt (a picture of the church) but in order to be used it must be broken apart from the chunk and then put where it will do most good.
So, some thoughts on what salt is and does? Are you the salt of the earth today.
