Two years ago I was travelling through Africa with some local pastors. In the morning we would study the Bible and in the evening we’d have a meal together. There was sweet potato, fried banana, cassava, millet, rice, chicken and goat. It was a great meal, and at first I didn’t really notice what was missing but by the 5th day, I was desperate.
Why?
No salt.
The food had no flavour, life, zest. Everything tasted the same: bland, boring, dull. So, on the 5th day a companion from India asked if there was salt. I can’t tell you how grateful we were to see a bowl of coarse white salt placed in front of us. We sprinkled it on our food and suddenly everything came alive!
This made me think of Jesus words about salt: “You are the salt of the earth. But what good is salt if it has lost its flavor? Can you make it salty again? It will be thrown out and trampled underfoot as worthless.”
Jesus death satisfied God’s justice and His perfect life achieved the holiness God requires. When we ask for God’s forgiveness of our sins because of Christ, the same power that raised Jesus from the dead then comes to live in us! With that life in us, we are like salt, bringing the life and hope of the Gospel with us wherever we go. We live for the glory of God, not for our sinful lusts and desires. Life has new meaning, new flavour. People notice this in us because being a child of God is the complete opposite of being a child of the devil, which we are naturally before conversion.
“People don't enjoy salt. They enjoy what is salted. We are the salt of the earth. We do not exist for ourselves.” -J.P.
Do you want to make a difference in this world? Do you want your life to count? Then surrender your life once more to God. Let Him use you to bring the flavour of the Gospel to those who are dying in hopelessness. Be salt.