Pastor’s Thoughts

He called us a chemical - sodium chloride, to be exact. But when Jesus uttered the above words, he had something important to teach us. To him salt represented a lot more than spice. It symbolized life.

The English term salary comes from the word salarium, meaning “a soldier’s money allowance for salt.” The Latin term referred to the salt allotment issued to members of the Roman armed forces. In ancient times governments paid warriors with salt.

Used for millennia as a seasoning agent and food preserver, salt also found service in the Greek, Roman, Hebrew, and Christian religious rights. So when Jesus identified us by that name, he had much to tell us.

Notice he didn’t say that we are like salt. He said we are salt. The very fact that we have chosen to live our lives with Christ as the central theme means we’ve become the very seasoning our world needs the most. Flavoring the lives of others with our presence, we preserve dignity and saneness in a civilization driven mad by sin. We cause irritation and then healing to the emotional wounds suffered by friends and neighbors who have fallen victim to selfishness, greed, and rebellion.

One day as Jesus walked by the sea of Galilee He saw some very weary fishermen guiding their empty boat toward shore. He’d been around the region long enough to know that an empty boat in the morning was not a good sign. “Throw your nets to the other side,” He called, His voice echoing over the waves.

Galilean fishermen weren’t used to taking orders, especially from a stranger. They were an independent, somewhat rough around the edges type of people. On this particular morning they must have reasoned that because they’d tried everything else, what would it hurt to follow a somewhat curious suggestion. With a sigh they obeyed and weariedly lowered their nets one more time.

Immediately they felt a reassuring tug. The stranger had guided them to the catch that would fill their stomachs and those of their family members, neighbors, and friends as well. Later Jesus told several of the tough, weatherworn men that He needed someone to help Him catch an even bigger prize. When asked what he meant, the stranger simply said “I need fishers of men.” He was asking them to flavor the lives of others just as he had provided spice to theirs.

Salt flavors and preserves whatever it touches. Its affects are immediate and long lasting. When we align our lives with Christ, when we choose to make his ways our ways, his standards our standards, we become transformed into something wonderful. We become salt, flavoring the world, preserving hope, and adding value and worth to the lives we touch.

If something isn’t “salty,” it isn’t salt. In other words, salt cannot lose its taste. If it does, it’s no longer salt. That’s what Jesus was referring to when he stated, “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.”

Christians need not worry. God’s presence in our heart keeps the salt salty, and allows us the privilege of flavoring lives every day.

Thank You, Pastor Grant