Matthew 5:13b
~4 min read
“…just as salt can become tasteless when contaminated by other minerals…”
Matthew 5:13b, 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.
Much salt in Palestine, such as those found on the shores of the Dead Sea is contaminated with other minerals that make it repulsive. When any of those contaminated salt was discovered in the houses, it would be thrown out immediately. The people are careful not to throw it in the garden or field because it would kill the plants. Instead it would be thrown onto a path or road for the people to step on and grind it into dust and disappear.
There is a sense in which salt cannot really become “un-salty” but nonetheless, it can be contaminated, thus losing its value as salt. When that happens, its saltiness can no longer function.
Here, Jesus was not speaking of losing one’s salvation. God will not allow any of His own children to be taken away from Him. Jesus Himself said, My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand (Jn.10:27).
Christians cannot lose their salvation, just as salt cannot lose its inherent saltiness. But Christians can lose their value and effectiveness in the kingdom of God when sin and worldliness contaminate their lives - just as salt can become tasteless when contaminated by other minerals.
Dear children, as believers, we have this great responsibility to the “salt of the earth.” We cannot be an influence for purity in the world if we have compromised our own purity. We cannot sting the world’s conscience if we continually go against our own conscience. We cannot create the thirst for righteousness if we have lost our own thirst. We cannot be used by God to prevent the corruption of sin in the world if our own lives have been corrupted by sin. To lose our saltiness is not to lose our salvation, but it is to lose our effectiveness and to become disqualified for service. Pure salt will not lose its saltiness; Christians who are pure in heart will not become tasteless, ineffective and useless in the kingdom of God.
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