Think About This

01.14.13

Luke 14.34,35 34 “Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? 35 It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile; it is thrown out. "Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.” (NIV)

Whenever Jesus used the term: “Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear”, I think He meant, “think about this…” I have never heard of saltless salt; I don’t know of such a thing. All I know is, if it’s salt (NaCl), it’s salty because of its taste. And NaCl is good for many things including seasoning, healing, and preserving. Salt is also good for curing as well. And salt can also be used as an herbicide. Ain’t much growing where salt is spread. Think about it.

But if salt, a naturally occurring compound, loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? The answer: it can’t. Once salt loses its taste and purpose it is fit for nothing… not even the garbage. There is nothing I can do to add to my discipleship, but there is much I can do to take away from it. Heat is not the opposite of cold; cold is just the absence of heat. Light and dark are not equal opposites, dark is just the absence of light. There is no such thing as an un-salty Christian, only he who denies the truth.

The question then: can we lose our saltiness? Or, can we add to a salty stew to make it less so? Can we dilute to lessen the effect of salt? Can salt be swept away? Can salt lose its effect? What happens in the life of a believer when they become diluted? What happens in the life of a believer when they lose their effectiveness, or they simply get swept away? 

Salt is salt, and Jesus’ point was: you can’t make salt anything other than what it already is. However, salt can be removed and salt can be diluted and though it still remains salt, it becomes less effective. A Christian is a Christian unless they live in such a manner as to lose their saltiness: their effect, their flavor, the power to heal and preserve. And Jesus is saying that salt that has been diluted no longer has its effect…the same applies to the one who claims to believe but lives as if he doesn’t.

Our lives as Christians will bring flavor, seasoning, healing, curing, and preserving if we live as we are intended to live. But as we allow the things of this life to invade our peace and to rob and replace our joy, we risk becoming diluted and ineffective.

But, if we live according to the King’s presence, then our lives remain as they we always intended to be: salty, effective, flavorful and useful. I used to say, one can’t un-become what they’ve been created to be. And that’s true – however, one can become distracted, diluted, and different if one deviates from a determined destiny and devolves into dissolution. The end result is ineffectiveness and ineffective employees usually find themselves looking for other work…

Lord, may I be seasoned with grace to live in the light of Your face; to bloom and grow in my place and by being salty, to add to this world: taste. Use the circumstances of my life to remind me that I have a purpose, and that without some care and caution, I can lose the effect of what I was created to be. Amen.