Please Pass The Salt

Monday, February 6th, 2006
Matthew 5:13
"Let Me tell you why you are here. You’re here to be salt-seasoning that brings out the God-flavors of this earth. If you lose your saltiness, how will people taste godliness? You’ve lost your usefulness and will end up in the garbage."

My dad was a salt-aholic. Big time. One year, for his birthday, the neighbors bought him a large block of salt...a salt-lick--the kind you put out in the woods for deer. And he didn’t bat an eye. He didn’t see the problem! Now, don't get me wrong. I like salt too. Some have accused me of the same thing. However, I've seen my dad use salt. And I use salt nothing like he does. When my dad says, "Please pass the salt," you might as well get the container of Morton from the cupboard. Imagine seeing a nice plate of tuna hotdish. Mmmm...needs a little salt and pepper, right? You sprinkle a little on. Then you notice my dad. He picks up the salt shaker you so quickly abandoned and begins to shake. He works himself into a frenzy, breaking a sweat upon his brow, using the force of the up and down motion of his arm to propel the crystallized NaCl2 from its home in the shaker to its new environment of: one can of tuna-fish, one can of cream of mushroom soup, and some boiled noodles. As you watch, you are reminded of another form of white crystals...snow. And as snow falls gently to the ground, building upon itself to blanket the ground in fluffy white, so does the sodium-chloride fall gently to its bed of tuna hotdish, blanketing it in fluffy white.

There is now an almost solid layer of salt residing on the hotdish. Can you imagine biting into it? I'm thinking it's going to be crunchy. And that much salt...you'd think a guy would gag, wouldn't you? Not my dad. He likes salt.

Salt adds flavor. And apparently, tuna hotdish doesn't have enough flavor for my dad.

And apparently, the world does not have enough flavor for Jesus. Because here in this passage, He tells His disciples the meaning of their existence. Haven't you wondered the same? "Why am I here?" The answer is right here in Matthew 5. Jesus says, "Let Me tell you why you're here." He says we're here to be salt. We're here to bring out the true flavor of this earth. On its own, it's a little bland. But add some salt and there ya go. MMMmmmm...

I want you to imagine that you have three containers in front of you. They all have little white crystals in them. Curious, you wet your finger and dip it into the first one. You know immediately what is in the first dish by its sweet taste. You've dipped your finger in sugar. Now you try the second container. The contents of the second container are also immediately recognizable by the sharp bite of flavor on your tongue. Salt. And now you dip your finger in the third container. You taste the white crystals. And you taste nothing. You have no idea what this stuff is.

I think so often as people of faith, who believe in Jesus, we would rather be sugar. We want people to like us. We want to be "shiny-happy-Christians-holding-hands." We don't want to offend and so we say fluffy-sweet things like: "All you have to do is be a good person." Or, "All paths lead to the same place." Nothing we say has any bite to it. It is simply sweet-tasting. But that sweet taste is just so much deception, hiding a difficult reality. We want people to like us and not be offended, and so we soften the Message of Jesus so that it hits about as hard as a Nerf ball.

However, we'd often rather have no flavor, than be salty. Often, we'd rather just fade into the background, un-noticed than stick out as different, or convicted. Because my friends, if you have convictions--things in which you strongly believe—you will stand out. You will be offensive to someone. You will be salty.

Salt does three things: it adds flavor, stings, and melts snow and ice.

Salt adds flavor. And without flavor, what's the point? If you have convictions, you will have flavor. If you are living your faith, you will have a taste. If you are proclaiming Jesus' Message, you will leave a salty-aftertaste in the lives of the people with whom you are in contact.

Salt stings in wounds and in eyes. John Wesley, a pastor from the eighteenth century, used to say, "If I have not offended someone in my preaching, then I have not been faithful to the Message." Not everyone is ready for the flavor you will bring as a Christian. Not everyone is ready to take seriously the kind of life Jesus calls us to live. Not everyone is ready to give up that which is most dear to them. Not everyone is ready to give up their insecurities. Not everyone is ready to follow Jesus, in the ways He has called us to because it means such a radical surrender of ourselves and our preferences. Salt stings...it has a bite to it.

Salt melts snow and ice. And isn't that what the Message is supposed to do? Isn't the Message supposed to melt the snowy, icy hearts of those who have not yet fallen in love with Jesus...who have not yet come to know that Jesus has fallen in love with them?

Sometime today, go and get some sugar, some flour, and some salt. Put them side by side. Now dip your finger into all three and taste them individually, and then think of the kind of Christian you will be.

Will you be sweet, offering a fluffy Gospel without standards or convictions? Will you have no flavor at all, bringing a dry, empty, lifeless Message to a world begging to hear more? Or will you be salt? Will you stand as Jesus has called you and proclaim His name to a world crying out for a Savior? Will you boldly stand with humility, telling this questioning world that there is one Answer above all others, and His name is Jesus?

Be salt, my friends. Bring forth the God-flavors of this earth. Things have been far too bland for far too long. Somebody, anybody...please pass the salt!

Be WILD For Christ!


Shane Burton