Scripture

“You are the salt of the earth. But what good is salt if it loses its flavour? Can you make it salty again?”

Observation

Jesus tells us we are salt and must not lose our flavour. We are light for the world and must let our good deeds shine before people so that they will praise our heavenly Father.

Application

Saltiness is the flavour of God in my life. For all of the many sermon illustrations about salt and its many uses, this is about flavour.

If I am salt with the “flavour” of God, it means that I have to “bury” myself or “hide” myself in the world n order to give it the flavour of God. Salt does not do its work if left in the salt shaker.

Saltiness is a feature of the nature of salt. Godliness must be “baked in” or “hard wired” into my nature. This is the Holy Spirit who kills the old nature and replaces it with the new nature, the shape and flavour of Christ.

Each day I am sent into the world that is dying to add the flavour of Christ. It is the savour of life in a world of death. Some will recognise the life in me and be excited by it, while others will be disgusted by the scent of life.

Salt does its work by being salt. I cannot be salt if I am taking on the nature of the world. I cannot bring life if I am carrying death.

Salt can lose its flavour when it takes on the appearance and taste of the world, when it is more world than salt. We have to be in the world but remain different from it.

Can you make salt that has lots its saltiness salt again? No. But God can. “Return to your first love,” Jesus urges those who have lost their saltiness. “Come back to me, and I will give you rest. You are mine, so let my saltiness infuse through you.”

Prayer

Please help me, Lord Jesus, to remain true salt in this world that so desperately needs you. Amen