LEARNING DAILY

 

Matthew 5:13, “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses it’s flavor, how shall it be seasoned?  It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.”   Jesus

 

Jesus has been telling us what Christian character is.  Now He begins to explain how this character demonstrates itself to others.  Salt is valuable as a preservative.  For example, there are germs on the surface of a piece of meat which have come from the animal and is in danger of causing it to rot. Rubbing salt into the meat preserves it from the germs and tendency to rot.  Salt will also give flavor to whatever it is put on; we certainly do not want to eat bland food!

 

Believers and the church must be godly examples in the world and must resist the moral decay and corruption evident in society.  The Bible states that the world is fallen, sinful, and corrupt.  Like meat in the example above the world is polluted and has a tendency to rot.  As a result of sin and the fall, life in the world became evil.  Evil left unchecked causes disease and the disease left alone will rot.  If you can understand this, it becomes easy to see what is happening around us today.  No Christian should be surprised at what is happening around us; perhaps the surprise should be that the world is as good as it is.  Christians are not to be like the world!  As salt is to prevent the meat from rotting, Christians are to be salt to the world – to prevent rot and decay.

 

In The Revelation, Jesus called Christians who are neither hot nor cold “lukewarm”.  Christians and churches that become lukewarm, quench the power of the Holy Spirit and do not resist Satan from doing his thing in the world.  I mention this to warn those who are lukewarm in their Christian walk of the danger of being destroyed by the ways and values of ungodliness in the world today.  God does not want His people to be lukewarm or sitting the fence regarding their walk with Him.  Be salt in this ungodly world!

 

Salt also provides flavor to that which is tasteless.  This seems to be saying that if Christianity is removed from one’s life and the world, life will become tasteless, bland.  All one has to do is look at what entertains people today.  I am far from perfect!  But I have found that what once entertained me no longer does.  I watch sports, but no longer get caught up with who wins or loses.  (I must confess, the exception to this is when I watch my granddaughter’s volleyball team play.)  What entertains you and what importance do you place on it?  As Christians, we just don’t need the entertainment the world provides because the “savor of life” is found in our Christian faith.

 

Have you ever walked up to a group discussing something that might not be really righteous?  When you walk up the discussion changes without you even saying a word; people just begin to change their language.  You are being salt and controlling evil that is trying to get its ugliness into the lives of people.  This can happen wherever you are, just by being know as a Christian. 

 

You and I must realize that we are living in a world that is becoming more evil all the time.  I have had conversations with friends that center on what life was like when we were kids.  But I think the world is more evil now that it was even ten years ago.  Maybe it is because those of us who call ourselves Christians are not as “salty” as we need to be.  Jesus tells us in the Sermon on the Mount that we are to be salt in a world that is obviously rotten.   We are being told that the government has all the solutions we need to become better, to become peaceful, to become unified.  Trust in the government, these people say, and your debts will be removed, there will be equality in income, you can decide what to do for yourselves about abortion and what constitutes marriage.   Do people really believe these issues can be solved by passing laws and issuing executive orders?  And 70 plus millions of people have fallen for this and said yes.  Has our salt lost its saltiness? 

 

Isn’t this the great call of the time we live in?  The problems, the evils we face are not going to go away by passing laws.  That is just ignorance and pride speaking; no this is a problem of the heart.  Each one of us who call ourselves a Christian must guard against the rottenness of this nation, this world by being the salt that preserves!

 

 

If you receive this blog through email, you can go to the regular blog page by moving your cursor to the top of the page and click on LEARNING DAILY header.  Then you can see the archived articles and comment section. You can also leave a comment by clicking on the date in the Comment Section.