Saturday, September 20, 2008
Saltless Salt
Mark 9:50-‘Salt is good; but if the salt becomes unsalty, with what will you make it salty again? So, be full of goodness. And have peace with each other."
Salt is important in the New Testament, and for all Christians. Besides this text, there are other important passages. Matt 5:13 "You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how shall it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trodden under foot by men.
Luke 14:34 "Salt is good; but if salt has lost its taste, how shall it be made salty again?
Col 4:6 Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer every one.
Why is salt so important, what does it mean? Especially when we live in an age where people are being told they need to have less salt, in an age of salt substitutes, and no salt diets. Many things can be said, salt is a seasoning, salt has been used as money throughout the world, and there are many expressions about salt – an old salt, rub salt in the wound, not worth his salt, we salt things away and we salt things down. Of all of the properties of salt, the one central to understanding what the Bible has to say about salt, is that salt preserves. In other words, when we talk about salt, we are talking about its ability to save things.
Jesus wants us to be people of character - people who are holy, righteous, pure and redemptive in a world that is none of those things. Two clear commands -- to be at peace and to have a godly influence on those around us -- are made without equivocation. Obedience to these two important commands is needed so very much in the divided and worldly state in which believers in Jesus now find themselves.
Salt is important in the New Testament, and for all Christians. Besides this text, there are other important passages. Matt 5:13 "You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how shall it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trodden under foot by men.
Luke 14:34 "Salt is good; but if salt has lost its taste, how shall it be made salty again?
Col 4:6 Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer every one.
Why is salt so important, what does it mean? Especially when we live in an age where people are being told they need to have less salt, in an age of salt substitutes, and no salt diets. Many things can be said, salt is a seasoning, salt has been used as money throughout the world, and there are many expressions about salt – an old salt, rub salt in the wound, not worth his salt, we salt things away and we salt things down. Of all of the properties of salt, the one central to understanding what the Bible has to say about salt, is that salt preserves. In other words, when we talk about salt, we are talking about its ability to save things.
Jesus wants us to be people of character - people who are holy, righteous, pure and redemptive in a world that is none of those things. Two clear commands -- to be at peace and to have a godly influence on those around us -- are made without equivocation. Obedience to these two important commands is needed so very much in the divided and worldly state in which believers in Jesus now find themselves.
