Salt

As I excitedly paid for my lunch and watched as they placed my side of fresh, buttery corn on the cob in the bag, I grabbed a couple of packets of salt. 

As I sat down to eat my lunch, I thought about that little packet of salt. 

I thought about how God said that we are the salt of the Earth in Matthew 5:13.

And in Mark 9:50, He tells us to have salt among ourselves.

What does it mean?  To be salt?

Salt preserves.  

One definition for preserve is, “to keep something from being damaged or destroyed.” 

If salt preserves, we must preserve. 

What can we keep from being damaged or destroyed?

We can keep God’s Word.   We can preserve it. We can speak up for it, when the world says it doesn’t matter. 

Salt enhances. 

Enhance can mean to strengthen, to lift,  or to exalt.

If salt enhances, we must enhance. 

We can speak words of encouragement to others when they are struggling. We can pray for others to lift them up. We can tell others about Jesus, and what He has done for us. We can exalt the name of Jesus!

And perhaps the most interesting characteristic of salt…

Salt freezes. And salt thaws. 

Here we have a choice friends. 

We can thaw, or we can freeze. 

Proverbs 15:1 says, “A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.”

A person’s heart can become hardened by the way we treat them. Or a person’s heart may be softened depending on our actions. 

“But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.” ‭‭Hebrews‬ ‭3:13‬ 

We must choose to thaw. 

We must choose to speak love. We must choose to encourage and speak kindness. We must try to live in peace. 

When we live in love, when we are genuinely kind and compassionate, others will notice. When we disagree but answer with gentleness and grace, people take note. Love can thaw hearts!

Friends, we are the salt of the Earth. 

Let’s seek to preserve the Bible and the name of Jesus. 

Let’s seek to enhance and lift up the people around us through encouragement and prayer. 

Let’s seek to exalt Jesus. 

Let’s seek to thaw hearts through love and compassion. 

“My goal is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ.”‭‭ Colossians‬ ‭2:2