“Have salt among yourselves, and be at peace with each other»
(Mark 9:50, NIV).
ONE Of the most well-known and perhaps least-understood statements in the Gospels is 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” (Matthew 5:13, NIV).
To the Jews, salt was one of the basic elements in life. In his Natural History, Pliny the Elder quotes a Roman officer who made the following comment: “Nothing is more useful than salt and sun»” Plutarch, the Greek historian, properly describes the function of salt. He used to say that meat is a deceased body, and as such will end up in a state of decay; but when salt is poured on it, meat is preserved for a longer time. Then, Plutarch would say, salt is “much akin to a new soul inserted into a lifeless body.”
When Jesus tells us we are «the salt of the earth* He is turning us precisely into the salt of the earth. The earth needs us, and as its «salt» we are to exert our influence to improve the temporary and eternal well-being of our fellow men and women. By comparing us to salt, He is revealing that the Christian life should act as a sort of preserving agent against the immorality that eats away at the very foundations of our society.
We are the element that can instill hope to a world that succumbs to indecency. The destiny of many individuals depends on us, and we are to make an effort so that the greatest number of men and women can be preserved until they can live in their eternal home.
We have been designed from eternity to exert a positive influence in this world. We are not called to adapt to the worldliness of our time but to transform our surroundings through our words and actions. If we lose sight of that work, then what are we good for?
Of course, if we want to be “the salt of the earth,” we are to experience the power of that “salt» within us. Jesus said it in these words: «Have salt among yourselves, and be at peace with each other» (Mark 9:50, NIV).
This dead world needs living, influencing, and transformative Christians. Salt, it’s an essential ingredient that you cannot be lacking, do you, have it?
*Michael J. Wilkins, Matthew, Zondervan illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary (Grand Rapids,
Michigan: Zondervan, 2002), vol. 1, p. 35.
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Taken from: Devotional Readings for Adults 2023
“I AM WITH YOU”
From: J. VLADIMIR POLANCO
Collaborators: Lorina Maya & Angelica Cuate
