Jesus tells His disciples in In Matthew 5:13-16, 13 “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, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.
14 “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead, they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.”
Being salt and light is not an option for us Christian believers because Jesus didn’t say, you can be…or you have the potential to be…He said you are. Every person who has given their life to Jesus Christ and is born again is the salt and light of the earth.
Value of Salt and Light
We can never ever underestimate the value of salt in our world. During ancient times, the Roman soldiers would get paid their salaries in salt. For the Greeks, salt was divine. The Law of Moses said that all offerings presented by the Israelites must contain salt. (Lev. 2:13).
So when Jesus called His disciples “the salt of the earth”, they understood its meaning. The whiteness of salt represents the purity of the surrendered and saved believer. Christians are to add divine flavor to the world, the same way salt adds flavor to food. We are to also create a thirst for Christ in the world just as salt makes people thirsty.
Another vital use of salt is to preserve and stop the decay of something. We are called to stop the moral and value decay that is happening all around us and preserve it with the word of God. We have to stop the corruption that is in the world and inhibit the power of sin that is destroying the lives of many around us.
With every privilege comes responsibilities and Jesus warns us in Matthew 5:13 states: “But if salt loses its taste, how would its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trodden underfoot by men”. Here we are not being told that we would lose our salvation; rather we can lose our saltiness.
Tasteless salt is useless and can’t be used for anything, so it needs to be dumped in the trash can. Don’t allow disobedience, carelessness, and indifference to become the norm in your lives and become worthless salt that has lost its saltiness. If you have sinned against God and your neighbor then confess it and let the Lord restore you back to the purpose you were called for.