One year my husband and I decided to start the new year with a detox diet. I bought the cookbook, and together we shopped for the natural ingredients we’d be eating. The diet included a variety of good foods, so it didn’t look too difficult. But the detox banned one small ingredient I’ll never take for granted again—salt.

Since I have a strong sweet tooth, I didn’t think leaving off salt for 28 days would be that big of a deal. Boy was I wrong! Have you ever eaten a baked potato without salt? This gave me a new appreciation of salt’s flavor enhancing properties.

Jesus called His followers “salt.” When He used this metaphor, He warned against becoming tasteless salt.

“You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men” (Matthew 5:13 NASB 1995).

That begs the question, what does it mean to be tasteless salt? Or better yet, how do we become tasty salt that makes people thirsty to know more about our Lord?

What Makes Salt Tasty?

We call the verses preceding the verse on salt, the beatitudes. Since context matters, it seems that before we can become flavorful there must be a time when we recognize our poverty of spirit before God. In other words, at some time we become aware that we need a Savior. This produces mourning over sin and what our sin cost Jesus.

I well remember that time in my own life. In a little chapel at Epworth by the Sea, the gospel pierced my middle-school heart. Like the disciple Peter, when I realized what my sin had done to Jesus and what He’d done for me, I couldn’t stop the tears. Soon, tears gave way to joy. Jesus loved me!

In the beatitudes, salvation produces gentleness, mercy, purity, and peace-seeking. In other words, salty people are those who are becoming more like Jesus. They pursue righteousness and purity. They don’t pick fights to win souls or put people down to make a point.

Strong words without a transformed heart produce tasteless salt that repels people instead of drawing them to Jesus. This applies to how we treat our children and family members too.

I’ve seen people, who use common courtesy in normal conversations, be rude when expressing their biblical beliefs to unbelievers. That is also tasteless. Throughout the New Testament, we’re admonished not to argue, but to gently correct in the hope that God might grant repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth (2 Timothy 2:24-26).

Salty Christians consistently demonstrate trusting faith in Jesus. Even when suffering persecution for their faith, they find joy and eternal hope in their relationship with Jesus.

Just one day spent with Richard and Sabina Wurmbrand, cofounders of Voice of the Martyrs, forever changed my life. How could someone who’d suffered so much pain and loss exhibit so much joy? A life that reflects Jesus through loss and injustices creates a hunger and thirst for God in those who are watching.

I experienced this in college when a group of believers continued to thank God through a series of disappointments. That same weekend, I marveled when a man shrugged off the loss of his class ring. I knew Jesus as my Savior, but I lacked their peace.

People need to see the evidence of a changed life before they want to hear our words (1 Peter 3:8-16). A salty life reveals a Savior worth knowing.

Strength Finder

Whose salty life makes/made you thirsty to know Christ better? Have you ever been turned off by how someone expressed their faith? What makes one salty and another offensive? How much of saltiness is related to a person’s essence?

“Instead, you must worship Christ as Lord of your life. And if someone asks about your hope as a believer, always be ready to explain it. But do this in a gentle and respectful way.” (1 Peter 3:15-16 NLT)
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“But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place. For we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing; to the one an aroma from death to death, to the other an aroma from life to life. And who is adequate for these things?” (2 Cor. 2:14-16 NASB 1995).
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“Let your speech always be with grace, as though seasoned with salt, so that you will know how you should respond to each person” (Col. 4:6 NASB 1995).

I just learned Little Strength, Big God is a finalist for two more awards. Glory to God!

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Blessings,

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