Matt.5:13 – You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet.

Jesus coined some amazing phrases in His ministry. Phrases like “pick up your cross”, “give and it shall be given”, “seek and you will find”, just to name a few. In today’s scripture Jesus refers to His followers as “the salt of the earth”. This short phrase is loaded with spiritual implications. Look at some of them in this quote from the Fire Bible.

“Jesus’ followers could easily relate to the properties and benefits of salt as described in Jesus’ metaphor. Salt seasons and flavors food, just as Christians should enhance and favorably influence the people and society around them. Salt is a preservative, just as Christians and the church should resist moral corruption and decay, preserving a godly influence on the culture. In addition, salt has healing properties, just as Christ’s followers must help bring healing to people who are hurting physically, emotionally and spiritually. Salt also creates thirst, just as Christians–through their good example–should create spiritual thirst or desire in others to know more about God. Individual Christians and churches that lose these qualities will become spiritually “lukewarm”, a condition that suppresses or destroys the activity and power of the Holy Spirit. Without the power and presence of the Holy Spirit, churches will completely lose their effectiveness and will be rejected and “thrown out” by God.”

The first observation here is seasoning or flavor. Christianity brings flavor and enjoyment into our lives. It is also described as a preservative, this is huge in the crumbling cultural environment we live in. Christianity serves as salt holding back the rotting nature that fills the culture of this world. If you remove Christ and His people deterioration sets in immediately. The Fire Bible also describes the healing nature of salt. As the salt of the earth we bring the healing power of Jesus everywhere we go. This quote also describes another characteristic of salt, it creates a thirst. Individual Christians and churches that are moving in the power of the Spirit are like salt, we create a thirst for God, that’s just who we are. Another characteristic I want to bring out is purity. There is something clean and pure about salt, this purity is desperately needed in our society today. You are the salt of the world, our civilization really needs your influence.