Matthew 5:13
“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.”
I find it rather interesting that these verses come right after the beatitudes. This indicates to me that even when we are humble, meek, merciful, peacemakers, and are persecuted, we still need to keep our guard up so we don’t fall short of the Glory of God. In physics there is a basic law of motion. It is the third law of Newton’s law of motion, which states: For every action (force) there is an equal and opposite reaction (force). It is my belief that this law applies to the spiritual realm as well. Look at Ephesians 6:12 where we find an example of this,
“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.”
If we do not constantly draw near to God and seek Him with all our hearts, the forces that we struggle with will overtake us. That is why it is imperative that we put on the full armor of God as found in Ephesians 6:13-18 which I have covered in another blog.
My question is: How do we lose our saltiness? My first reaction to that is we lose it when we lose sight of God. When we try to do things on our own and we forget about the full armor of God. We chose to do life as the song, “I Did It My Way.” Once we lose sight of God and believe in ourselves, trouble will come in full force. Those opposing forces will overtake us without the Lord on the other side pushing back. We need to face the fact that the forces within us can not be fought with our own strength as they are more powerful than we are. Our Heavenly Father fights our battles through the Holy Spirit that indwells those who call upon His name and believe in Him. In other words, without Him we are nothing. Without Him we lose strength and our flavor is bland. Paul explains it like this:
II Corinthians 12:7
“To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me.”
His answer is found in II Corinthians 12:9,
“But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’”
What is it like to eat something without salt? Some of you may have diets that require reduced or no salt and you have probably gone out and found a salt substitute. Without salt your food is bland and does not stimulate the taste buds. I have to think of the times that I have accidently picked up unsalted peanuts, they are absolutely nasty to me. That is what it is like when someone has tasted the salt in us by seeing our lives with the salt of Christ and then if we lose the salt, turn from Him, we become nasty like those peanuts. People are cautious around us, or should be, and we lose our effectiveness in presenting the gospel. Paul had that opposing force in him to keep him seeking the Lord. That opposing force in you should drive you as it did Paul, to the foot of the cross, where we are made perfect in Christ. Be sure to always take the force of God with you every day so that the opposing force will not come and rob you of the flavor of Christ.
Seek Him with all your hearts and let others taste the vibrant flavors of our Heavenly Father through you and your actions.
Seeking Him with all my heart,
Sheila
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