Salt

You are the salt of the earth.
But what good is salt if it has lost its flavor?
Can you make it salty again?
Matthew 5:13

When Jesus said, “You are the salt of the earth,” He wasn’t just being poetic. He was giving identity and purpose to His followers.

Salt, especially in the ancient world, was essential. It preserved what would otherwise decay. In a culture without refrigeration, salt meant survival. It purified. It was necessary, valuable and powerful.

Jesus didn’t stop at the charge to be salt. He also issued a warning, “But what good is salt if it has lost its flavor?”

That statement might seem confusing at first since pure salt is incredibly stable. By itself, it doesn’t expire or lose potency. However, in Jesus’ day, salt wasn’t mined in pure white cubes or poured from a blue container. It was gathered from salty deposits in places like the Dead Sea and was often mixed with other minerals. It looked like salt, but if moisture or air pulled the true salt away, what remained was flavorless and useless. It couldn’t preserve or enhance anything.

Even today, with pure salt, the principle still applies. Take a tablespoon of salt and stir it into a gallon of water. Taste it. The salt is still there, but it’s been so diluted that it becomes nearly indistinguishable. At that point, it can’t do what it was made to do.

Isn’t that exactly how it feels sometimes?

Despite our best efforts, somehow we become diluted. We absorb the world’s pace, priorities and pressure to perform. We become so integrated into its systems, expectations and noise that the distinctiveness of Christ in us fades. We haven’t lost our faith, but we’ve lost our flavor, our purity and preserving power.

The danger Jesus warned about wasn’t that we’d walk away from Him, but that we’d slowly lose our ability to enhance and preserve. When we look like salt but no longer carry the potency of Heaven, the culture around us won’t be transformed by our presence because we’ve become too much like it.

So, how do we become salty again? By returning to the Source.

When you do, you’ll not only rediscover your flavor. You’ll become a catalyst for change, a preservative in a decaying world and a light that can’t be hidden. You’ll stand firm where everything around you threatens to rot and crumble. Your presence will slow decay. Your words will bring healing. Your faith will inspire courage in those who have lost hope. You won’t just survive in this world. You’ll transform it because salt changes what it touches. When you’re saturated in Christ, your influence is undeniable. You carry the power to preserve what is good and true, to flavor what has grown bland and to awaken what has grown dull.

So, lean into the purity that is our God. MAKE ROOM for the Holy Spirit to do His refining work. Let Him saturate your heart with His holiness and love. Then step boldly back into the world, without blending in or fading away. It is waiting for your saltiness full of flavor, full of purpose and full of Adonai. He is the treasure. He is the prize.