Salt of the earth.... or sugar candy?

In a shopping-mall in our city there’s a store that makes candy while you watch. It’s an interesting process to observe, but the amount of sugar that’s used in the operation is staggering! We New Zealanders have a “sweet-tooth” and by international standards our candy is very sweet to the taste, but even the latest fad of “sour candy” has almost as much sugar in the recipe. 

Lake Grassmere salt works, Marlborough N.Z. 

Unlike sugar, a little salt goes a long way; a few grams too much can ruin an entire meal, and if left out of some recipes, the food spoils quickly. Salt is an interesting mineral. There's almost as much salt in a McDonald’s shake as there is sprinkled on the fries. Why? Because salt makes a sweet thing taste sweeter. Too much salt, by itself, can make us sick… yet without salt, we would die.

Sea salt or rock salt is the only compound that has all the trace elements and minerals that we require, available in roughly the amounts that we need in our daily diet. Rock salt can lay buried in vast caverns for thousands of years, however, when mined, it’s as salty and pure as the day it was formed.

Salt has always had many uses. Salt acts as a preservative; an ancient religious ritual in Israel demanded that all sacrifices be salted before they were offered to God. (Leviticus2:13) New born babies were rubbed with salt*. (Ezekiel16:4) A grain of salt placed in a tooth cavity was the usual remedy for a toothache. One of the most extensive uses of salt was in preserving meat and fish. This was probably the single most important function of salt in ancient societies…it was one of just three ways of preventing putrefaction.

All the heave offerings of the holy things, which the sons of Israel offer to Jehovah, I have given you and your sons and your daughters with you, by a law forever. It is a covenant of salt forever before Jehovah to you and to your seed with you. Numbers 18:19 MKJV

I have seen a gradual change of emphasis engulf much of the western church; we have gone from being “salt cellars” to candy stores. Somehow we have become convinced that it’s now our task to sweeten the life of the non-believer, “entertaining” them into the kingdom, rather than allowing Holy Spirit to convict and led them to redemption.

The Church has moderated her testimony, winked at the pervading social mores, and then adopted them into a liberal, all encompassing theology. All of this has been done in the name of reaching the masses.  Christ didn’t call us (the church) to be the gold or the diamonds of the earth, nor did He say that we were to be rock stars, sporting personalities or any of the myriad other possibilities that clamor for attention in the fast-paced society of century 21. 

Too often we hear the phrase “society is sick”… that may well be true, but we (the church) should not lose sight of one of the major reasons for our presence in society; to keep society healthy.

We need to remind ourselves of a few of the positive uses of salt…

1. Salt preserves
2. Salt flavors and seasons
3. Salt is essential to a healthy diet.
4. Animal hide tanning
5. Soap manufacture and at least 14,000 other uses. 

Probably the single most destructive force working against Christ is the believer who has lost his/her saltiness. Every Christian is a witness. We will either be a witness to the life-changing power of Jesus Christ or a witness against that power. It is a sad commentary about human nature, but a negative witness will often have more impact than a positive witness.

Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt that you may know how you ought to answer each one. Colossians.4:6

 

*Newborn babies were rubbed with salt symbolizing that they would grow up and say what they mean, and mean what they say. In other words, they would keep their word. The salt also had antiseptic properties.