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I know, I know… salty has a negative connotation if you spend any time with middle school or high schoolers. If you’ve ever been accused of being “salty, bruh”, you know exactly what I’m talking about! Ha! But I want you to just put all those negative feelings aside for a second and think for a little bit about what the Bible says about being salty.
So go freshen up your cup of coffee, settle in and let’s talk!
Matthew 5 brings us the story of Jesus talking to his disciples. He goes through what is probably really familiar to most of you, the Beatitudes. He is just sitting at the top of a mountain, with his disciples close by listing off who will be blessed based on what they do. He gives a reminder of the end game, even in the middle of persecution and grief.
Then he says this:
“You are the salt of the earth. But 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 underfoot.”
Now this is pretty intense language. He is talking about us. You and me. Followers of Jesus. He calls us the salt of the earth. And then he says that if the salt (us) lose its (our) saltiness, we are no longer good for anything.
Talk about not pulling any punches. Why do we tiptoe around things so much, when that is not what Jesus did?! He told it how it was.
When we understand that time matters and people’s lives matter, we understand that trying to fit in and make people comfortable matters less.
So let’s talk about that whole salty part. Jesus tells us what we ARE (not what we should be) but what we ARE. Look at what He says next…BUT. BUT if it loses its saltiness, how can it become salty again? It is no longer good for anything.
Do you get that? No longer good for anything.
Not even like, good for a few things but not as good as it could be.
Just straight up – not good for anything, except for to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.
Ok. So let’s break this down. Salt is good for making people thirsty, for adding flavor to an otherwise really dull dish, for healing wounds, and for a lot of other things. How does it lose its saltiness? When it’s diluted.
DUDDEEESSSS.. Do you get this? When we get diluted we become not good for anything.
Tell me this is not the entire plan of the enemy!! To get us so close to the world, so similar to the world, so watered down and diluted that we become absolutely good for nothing.
And do you know what I think part of the trick of the enemy is? To get us to think that we are still salty. Like, we are going to this little Bible study and we are going to that small group and we are busting our schedules out the seams but while we are filling ourselves to the brim with fluff, we are getting diluted.
What if we really realized that the goal of the Christian life is not a full schedule.
It’s holiness.
But we are literally ignoring the goal, neglecting the work and trying to claim the victory.
Victory comes after the battle, not before. Victory comes through fighting the battles, putting in the work behind the scenes, when people can’t see but God can.
Don’t let yourself be deceived. Don’t get diluted. If you lose your saltiness, you become good for nothing.
Jesus’ words. Not mine.
Stay salty, friends. It’s the only way to a truly victorious life.