How salty are you?

A few days ago I was listening to the Christian radio station and a speaker came on and gave a message about being salt and light. I can't remember his name because I was paying more attention to trying to remember his message than bothering to remember his name.

He spoke about how Jesus told his followers that they were the salt of the earth and the light of the world. Jesus didn't tell his followers that they were the gold of the earth or the silver, those were rare and precious commodities that were owned by only the richest and most powerful among them. Salt, however, was and is something that even the poorest among us has access to. And it's something that infuses the food it's added to. It also preserves what it's added to. Salt, during Jesus' time, was vital to preserve meat and fish, to add flavor to food. It was a necessary ingredient that was abundant and common. Jesus wants us to be salt.

Jesus also warned, though, that we can lose our saltiness and that salt without saltiness is worthless. The speaker went on to explain that back in Jesus' day, the people would sometimes have a large block of salt that they would set on the ground and chip away at as they used it. Some of the salt would get mixed in with the dirt that the block was sitting on. The dirt represents the junk in the world- the worldliness that Christians are not supposed to get mixed up in. Once we do, we're no longer useful in God's plan. We're still saved, but we're not doing God's work effectively because we've gotten too mixed up in the dirt to be salty. What good is salt that's not salty? Imagine you're filling up your salt shaker at home and you dropped it. Salt goes everywhere! You grab the broom and sweep it up. But instead of just salt you find bits of sand, soil, maybe some pet hair or food crumbs that were also on the floor. You scoop that mess up into your dustpan and dump it in the trash because that salt is no longer good for anything. Surely you wouldn't dump it into your salt shaker and sprinkle it on your food.

So my question to you is this...How salty are you? Are you good pure clean salt that is seasoning the world around you with God's love? Are you preserving His word in your heart to share it with others? Or are you so mixed up in the mess of the world that your witness is no longer effective?

Search your heart and ask the Lord to show you how salty you are.