What are they selling in those puffed plastic bags?

On my recent business trip to a remote coastal location in the Philippine, I saw along the road people selling bags of white powdery stuff. After a little bit of thinking, I realized it was salt. I was reminded of the Bible verse I read a few nights before.

“You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet.” – Matthew 5:13

What does it mean to be “salt of the earth”? Well, let’s look at a few uses of salt.

1. Salt makes food taste better. Almost in all meal we put a pinch of salt. And so to be salt of the earth means we ought to make things better. Our presence shall bring peace, joy, hope, and other fruit of the spirit.
2. Salt preserves food. We use salt to preserve meat and pickling fruits and vegetables. Hence our function as salt of the earth is to prevent corruption.

Two things that I seldom hear on this topic:

1. The role of water. Yes, in order for salt to perform it’s function in making food taste better, water is needed, either in the form of moisture in the food, or the fluid in our saliva. When salt is mixed with water, it is dissolved and allows it to be tasted and absorbed by the body. If we are the salt, who is the water? Jesus is the source of the living water. Hence, we can only do our function as salt when we dwell in Jesus.
2. The distribution of salt. We want salt to be distributed evenly throughout our food. We don’t like having some part bland and other parts too salty. So is it with Christians, we ought to be salt in the world, wherever we go, wherever we are, at the market, at school, at work, at home, we are salt. Don’t just be salt at Church. It is a good start, but we need to go forth into the world and be salt of the earth.

Incidentally, the topic for ANZREC 2014 is “The Salt and The Light”. I’m looking forward for comprehensive discussion on this topic.

If you can think of other uses of salt and how it applies to Christian life, please add your comments below.