I remember my mother purchasing a small wooden codfish box as a child. Inside sat a salt-crusted piece of fish that looked like a fossil excavated from an ancient Egyptian burial tomb. My mother soaked the preserved piece of fish for hours, then drained and replaced the water to continue to draw out the salt and return it to its original texture.
The Bible has many uses for salt: it was once a form of currency, antiseptic. It added to their burnt offerings as a symbol of the covenant between God and man. But mainly, the Bible uses the term as a preservative.
Mark 9:49-50 says, “For everyone will be salted with fire. Salt is good; but if the salt becomes unsalty, with what will you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves and be at peace with one another.” But how does one have salt in themselves? In my study, I found that salt has two uses in the Christian life: 1. To aid the believer in acting as an example to the world. 2. To encourage us to persevere in the faith.
In Martin Lloyd Jones’ book Sermons in the Sermon on the Mount, he says,
Just a little salt can affect the great mass. Because of its essential quality, it somehow or another permeates everything … Let the individual Christian be certain that this essential quality of saltness is in him, that because he is what he is, he is a check, a control, an antiseptic in society, preserving it from unspeakable foulness, preserving it, perhaps, from a return to a dark age. God gives us the grace to do so. God stirs up the gift within us and makes us such that we shall indeed be like the Son of God Himself and influence all who come into contact with us.
In Matthew 5:13, Jesus warns us not to become ineffective for the gospel. He says, “You are the salt of the earth, but if the salt has become tasteless, how will it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out to be trampled underfoot by men.”
It is unusual to think of salt losing its savor. However, when salt is mixed with an impurity, like gypsum, used in construction to mix plaster, the salt properties lose value as a seasoning. Hence, when Jesus warns of becoming unsalty, He is saying that if we mix an obedient life with the world’s impurities, we become useless for the gospel. Our example of Christ becomes worthless and ineffective in leading others to Him.
The world can be attractive. Society seems to live with no restraints and represses the guilt of sin. Then, all of life is about self, and forcing others to believe how you conduct life is “your truth,” it is the world’s problem if you do not see things the way they do. Conformity to the world lessens your resolve and leads others to question whether you are a believer.
So, what does Jesus mean when he warns us to have salt in ourselves? He’s urging us to persevere in the faith. Only a steadfast pursuit of holiness will lead us to righteousness and confirm God’s gospel through us to a watching world.
But how do we do that? 1 Tim 4:12-16 says, “… show yourself as a model to those who believe in word, conduct, love, faith, and purity. Until I come, give attention to the public reading of Scripture, exhortation, and teaching. Do not neglect the gift within you, which was given to you through prophetic utterance with the laying on of hands by the council of elders. Take pains with these things; be absorbed in them so that your progress will be evident to all. Pay close attention to yourself and your teaching; persevere in these things, for as you do this, you will save both yourself and those who hear you.”
C.S Lewis once said, “We all want progress, but if you’re on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road; in that case, the man who turns back soonest is the most progressive.”
Friends, stand firm and persevere!
A Tree Firmly Planted 