Salt.
A simple flavor that shows up in many places throughout the Bible. Yep, it shows up beyond the Parable of Salt and It's Savour. (Matthew 5:13, Mark 9:50, and Luke 14:34-35)
But why salt? Here is what Herbert Lockyer says in his book (reference below):
"Salt is not antiseptic, but aseptic. Antiseptic is something which is against poison and which tends to its cure. Aseptic is something which is devoid of poison itself. Salt never cures corruption. It prevents the spread of corruption. If meat is tainted and corrupt, salt will not make it untainted and pure. But salt in its neighborhood will prevent the spread of corruption to that which would otherwise become tainted."
So in essences, we as Christians, can not stop the evil in this world, but we can do a whole lot to stop the spread of it. How do we? - with our morals, actions and spiritual influence. As Jesus followers we set ourselves apart from this world and live for our eternal hope. But often, we loose this and become flavorless salt and become one with this world.
Salt has a strong flavor but it can lose that flavor and become dull, lose its effectiveness. This can be our faith journey as well. We except Christ and are full of fire to do his work, but over the years the world takes over, we become complacent and our walk with Jesus becomes dull and we lose influence on the world. This happened to Lot's wife in Genesis 19:26.
Lots wife was turned into a pillar of salt when she looked back on Sodom. Sodom represented sin and destruction. The act of looking back showed Sodom/sin was in her heart. She had lost her flavor and became one with the world. Her turning into a pillar of salt is a warning to us to not identify with this world but be the flavor of this world.
We also see Salt used in Leviticus 2:13:
God instructed the Israelites to season their grain offering with salt to remind them of God's eternal covenant with Abraham, which was to make them a great nation, bless them and make them famous so they could be a blessing to others. He was using the Israelites to show and influence the nations around them.
Note: The grain offerings were a gift of thanks to God. It was meant to remind the people that their food came from God and therefore they owed their lives to Him.
So why salt in their Grain Offering. In short, as they prepared their gift to God, they would be reminded they were chosen and blessed by God to be a blessing to others to actively preserve and purify the world.
Lastly the Apostle Paul finishes his letter to the Church of Colosse to correct their behavior and show how Christians should live referencing Salt.
"Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time. Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person." - Colossians 4:5-6
There is a lot to take in, in this blog post. But don't let the teaching of salt take away from the basic message. We, as Christians, are to influence this world. Let's take a look at our lives and be honest. Have we become complacent in our walk with Jesus? Accepting worldly desires? Being okay with the "corrupt." Deciding it's better to accept and not ruffle feathers? Stay quiet rather than stand up and stand Firm (in a respectful way)?
Decide today to get your flavor back and Be The Good.