Salt with Savor
Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men. – Matthew 5:13
There are a great many uses for salt, and most people are familiar with at least a few of them. My family has some experience
with how salt can be essential to staying healthy on hot days. People are advised to eat salt when the weather gets unusually hot because the salt
makes us thirsty, causing us to drink more water to replenish the fluids and sodium that are lost through perspiration. Without the salt, people often
do not realize how much water they really need and can become seriously dehydrated.
We have experience with the dangers of dehydration as well. When we were first married, my husband worked installing gutters. Where we lived, the climate
could be intense in late summer. Normally, he would take a gallon of water with him to work so he would not become dehydrated, but there were times
when he forgot to take the water, and at those times he realized his great need for water. Not all of the worksites had running water, so after several
hours he would be overcome by the heat and dehydration. A couple of times, he was even taken to the emergency room, where they re-hydrated him with
saline solution.
When the Bible compares Christians to salt—the element that causes people to thirst for water—I am reminded that our lives ought to cause those
around us to thirst for the living waters. This world is an environment not unlike a hot summer day; the sin around us is suffocating, and we need
to be drinking from the living waters daily to survive. Yet some do not even realize their need! As the “salt of the earth,” we are to help them see
their need and seek the Lord.
Do our lives make those around us thirsty for God? We are in the heat of spiritual battle, and souls are dying from spiritual dehydration. We must determine
to be salt with savor in this world!