Pass the salt, please

Pastor Clark Schultz

“You are the salt of the earth” (Matthew 5:13).

Normally when someone looks at you and says, “You’re being a little salty,” it’s not meant as a compliment. Jesus, who liked to be different than the religious leaders of his day, was encouraging his listeners to be just that . . . salty. But he didn’t mean it in a negative way.

Salt preserves, salt (when taken in the appropriate dose) is good for you, and salt even adds a little flavor. Earlier in the book of Matthew, Jesus said that the people of this world who reject him are in the dark. So he encouraged his listeners to be a light to this dark world. Like peanut butter is to jelly, with letting our lights shine, Jesus also encouraged us to add a splash of salt to our lives of living for him. We can use the salt of the gospel to show God’s preservation for us and for others. We can give a good sprinkle of the law and the gospel over our daily conversations. And when others are being negative, we can spice things up by being a salty Christian. A Christian who’s not a perfect know-it-all but one who realizes he or she is a lost and condemned creature, a follower of God who needs a whole lot of flavoring in his or her life, a flavor that only Christ can give.

So grab the shaker of the gospel God has given you and, like dinner, feel free to pass the salt.

Devotional used by permission of Time of Grace®. For more information, visit www.timeofgrace.org