Salt in Jesus’ day was a simple yet valuable commodity. “Ye are the salt of the earth” (Matthew 5:13) was a significant statement, considering the important roll salt played in society. Roman soldiers were paid an allotment of salt. It was important for a soldier to prove his worth; and, as a Christian, I as well should ask myself, “Am I worth my salt?”
1.) Salt is a preservative.
The Sea of Galilee provided fish for the majority of Israel. Fish pulled from the water had to quickly be processed and preserved to prevent decay in the hot sun. I can just picture Jesus preaching the Sermon on the Mount with fisherman behind Him salting fish. Christ determined that his disciples should have this same preserving impact on the society in which they lived. While the world is “waxing worse and worse” (II Tim. 3:13), a godly testimony of hard work, honesty, integrity, and devotion to God can provoke even the lost to good works and to live a life of morality and thus stay the decay of the filth of sin. A remnant of salty believers is all it will take to preserve our nation. All Sodom and Gomorrah needed was ten righteous! At home, work, and church — be salt.
Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people. (Proverbs 14:34)
2.) Salt is used as a flavoring.
Job tells us of some things that we really can’t enjoy eating without salt: “Can that which is unsavoury be eaten without salt? or is there any taste in the white of an egg?” (Job 6:6). Why is it that you can’t have just one french-fry or just one potato chip? It’s the salt.
Let your speech be alway with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man. (Colossians 4:6)
A lost world finds life dull and boring because they do not know God. Filling their lives with entertainment, intoxication, fornication, relationships, and drug addictions, they still find no satisfaction. By contrast, a Spirit-filled believer’s life will be marked by deep, abiding joy, a peace that passes understanding, and contentment in all things. A Spirit-filled believer will add to any environment of which he or she is a part. The saltiness of a holy life will add flavor to any place — a business, a dinner party, a home, etc. Just like a fry or a chip continues to attract our physical appetite, a true believer should continually attract a lost world.
3.) Salt is used as a purifier.
A stinging but then purifying work happens when salt is applied to wounds, and so the healing message of the gospel stings before it can heal (Acts 2:37-38). Speaking the truth in love, the soul winner tells a sinner of his soul’s lost condition, thus stinging the sinner; but he then points him to the Saviour for healing. If we are to be followers of Christ, then we will be fishers of men (Mark 4:19). May God help us to be a witness to everyone we come in contact with along life’s way.
Consider the story President Woodrow Wilson told of his encounter with Evangelist D. L. Moody in a barbershop. Then let’s ask ourselves: “Am I worth my salt?”
“I was sitting in a barber chair when I became aware that a powerful personality had entered the room. A man had come quietly in upon the same errand as myself to have his hair cut and sat in the chair next to me. Every word the man uttered, though it was not in the least didactic, showed a personal interest in the man who was serving him. And before I got through with what was being done to me I was aware I had attended an evangelistic service, because Mr. D.L. Moody was in that chair. I purposely lingered in the room after he had left and noted the singular affect that his visit had brought upon the barbershop. They talked in undertones. They did not know his name, but they knew something had elevated their thoughts, and I felt that I left that place as I should have left a place of worship.”