Need Seasoning?

Picture by Caprice Miller

“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 underfoot.” – Matthew 5:13

I know people who absolutely love spicy food.  The more spice the better.  I even know someone who took on the “4 horsemen challenge” and lived to tell about it.  The 4 horsemen is a burger made with 4 of the hottest peppers including the infamous ghost pepper.  The people building the burger actually have to wear gloves …not for sanitary purposes, but because the peppers will burn their hands.  Now imagine that in your digestive system.  (and ponder…..)  For the rest of us, we would probably be fine with just enough to add a little kick to the taste of our food.  After all, we want to enjoy the meal, not fight it.  We enjoy the flavor sensation the spices bring to the food and, like the picture above, the color some of these spices add.  It just makes for a pleasant dining experience.  Not too much, not too bland, but just enough to make you want more.

Jesus talked about “flavor additives” too.  Back in biblical times, salt was very important.  Not only did it season food, but it was used to preserve food also.  But consider how salt can lose its flavor.  If it is exposed to the air (the elements) too long or if it is put in water, it becomes bland and dissolves.  If Jesus told us that we are the salt of the earth, this was His warning to us.  Don’t allow yourself to become so over-exposed to the elements of the world and the culture around you that you become bland.  Don’t allow yourself to be so diluted in this world that you just dissolve and your influence disappears.  There is a delicate balance we are called to in being the “salt of the earth”.  Too much salt probably means that we have taken over the shaking ourselves and could result in someone turning away from our influence with a bad taste in their mouth.  Too little salt may mean that we have just become another Christian in name only with no seasoning at all – tasteless.  There is a balance of influence that requires us to allow ourselves to be poured out by the One who seasons us. When we allow God to pour us out, the influence that we can have on the world around us can leave such a flavor that they just want more of what we have.  It’s not too much, it’s not bland, but just enough to make people want more of Him.  Imagine what a difference we could make if we allowed God to use us to flavor the world around us.