Wednesday June 22, 2016

Blessed are they whose ways are blameless, who walk according to the law of the Lord. Blessed are they who keep his statutes and seem him with all their heart. Psalm 119:1-2


Thanks God today for the truth of his word and ask him to use his word to shape your values, your behavior, and your life.


You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men. Matthew 5:13


One summer day my wife and I went to watch our two younger sons play in a travel baseball game. After we got ourselves settled into our “portable” chairs, Lorene produced a bag of peanuts for our mutual enjoyment during the game. I happily cracked the first shell and popped the peanut into my mouth – only to discover that these particular peanuts were unsalted. I don’t know about you, but nothing is quite as disappointing as munching on unsalted peanuts at a ball game! I put the unopened peanuts I had in my hand back in the bag, crumpled it up and left it under my seat until the end of the game. If they weren’t salted I wasn’t going to waste my calories on them!

In a way, Jesus is saying the same thing. Only he isn’t talking about peanuts – he’s talking about us; he’s talking about his church. 

In our world we see salt mostly as a “flavor enhancer.” We like our peanuts, chips and pretzels to be coated in salt! In Jesus’ day, before the advent of refrigeration, salt was seen more as a preservative – used to keep meat from spoiling. Because of this preservative power, salt was an extraordinarily valuable commodity in the ancient world. Historians tells us that, at times, Roman soldiers would actually be paid in salt for their services.

Jesus, therefore, is saying something very significant with this simple analogy. As his followers, we are to exert a kind of preservative influence in the world around us. Because, as followers of Jesus, we ‘hunger and thirst for righteousness,’ and because Christ lives in and through us, he wants to use us to preserve our world and our culture from corruption. Furthermore, he says that if his people do not have this kind of influence – we are like salt that has lost its saltiness and is good for nothing.

Now, we must be careful here. Jesus is not saying that if we aren’t having a positive spiritual influence on those around us we are not saved, or that he doesn’t love us! Our salvation is secured by the Holy Spirit when we confess Jesus as Lord (Romans 10:9-10; Ephesians 1:13-14). But he is saying that when he saves us by his grace – he doesn’t intend that we keep that gift to ourselves – but rather that we share it in all kinds of ways with the world around us. In short, he wants us to be salty!

Close your time with God today by asking him to help you see and understand how he can use you to exert a preserving influence in the small circle of your life. Ask him to make you salty enough that those around you might become thirsty for him!

Brian Coffey