Salt of the earth

“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 by men.” Matthew 5:13
Here’s a verse that is well-known to many people, and the phrase ‘salt of the earth’ is even in common use in secular society. But what does Jesus mean when He says that we are the salt of the earth?
Salt had a number of important functions, particularly in those times. It was used as a preservative, to keep meat from rotting. It was used (and still is used today) as an additive to food to enhance the flavour. It can also be used as an antiseptic, and it has an additional effect of causing you to feel thirsty.
If you think about it, all of these aspects about salt are the effects that Christians should have in the world around them. We should bring the flavour of God into the relationships that we have with other people and the situations we find ourselves in. We should be causing people to thirst after the things of God. And we should also be the preserving agent in our society, working to prevent it from rotting and becoming infected.
How do we do this? By being salty. We won’t be effective at all if we become like the world in order to win people to the Lord. People will look at you and say, ‘They say they’re a Christian, but they’re no different to me. Why would I want to become a Christian? There’s nothing to gain.’ No, it’s only if you are different, that people will be interested. They’ll take notice because of the sting in their conscience that your presence causes them, and they’ll be interested because of the flavour that you bring. We must remain salty, living according to God’s Word – otherwise, as Jesus said, we are no longer good for anything in reaching people for the Kingdom.