A Call To The Remnant

Mat 5:13  Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men. 

This is a very well known passage from the sermon on the mount. Upon reading it in my study from Matt 5 something occurred to me that made me think about it in a different light. I looked up the meaning of the phrase ” have lost its flavor.” in the Greek, it is “moraino.” It means to become insipid. So I looked up the definition of the word insipid. It is “without distinctive, interesting or stimulating qualities. Without sufficient taste to be pleasing as food or drink, bland.” For most of my Christian life I have heard men preach on this in regard to preservation. How salt preserves food. Yet the word is clearly flavor. I would imagine that almost every household in America has salt in it. We use it, not to preserve anything but to flavor it. If it did not flavor it then we would not buy it, what good would it be?

Have we, Christians, become “insipid.” Are we “without distinction,” in the world? Have we ceased to stimulate society but rather do we strive to simply blend in?  For much of Christendoms it is almost entirely impossible to tell us apart from the world. If that is indeed the case then what are we good for? Are we not called to be distinct? A people clearly called out from the world? A people that would, by our lives and by our words, stimulate and convict and interest the people around us with our Godlike qualities? The definition of the phrase “have lost its flavor,” goes on ………From G3474; to become insipid; figuratively to make (passively act) as a simpleton: – become fool, make foolish, lose savour. And the word G347 is “moros.” Here is the definition of that word is …..”dull or stupid, absurd or foolish.” In a world of foolishness, foolishness meaning that they have rejected God, are we any good to anyone if we simply just blend in with the world? Are we then “good for nothing,” have we also become like fools?

In the context of this scripture salt has a purpose as does light. We are salt and light. Light brings illumination to darkness, but if we cover up the light that is in us, then what purposes do we have? Light is likened to a city set upon a hill. A lamp that is put on a lamp-stand that lights the whole room. If it is covered up then what purpose do we serve? We have been called to let our lights so shine before men that they may see the works of God in us. We have been called to be salt in every situation we find ourselves in, family, neighbors, workplace. We should stimulate people by our words and by our deeds. We should be clearly distinct in a world that is more and more walking in lockstep, allowing for no distinction. And our distinction should be in no way contrived. I’m not talking about wearing a cross, I’m talking about changing the very atmosphere around us by the power of the light that dwells in us. Do you change the atmosphere that surrounds you or are you simply swallowed up by it?