How Salty Are You?

   How salty are you? That may seem like a strange question. Some of you are probably thinking "I'm not food, why do I need salt on me?" Others may be thinking, "I didn't just work out, I'm not sweaty. And, I wasn't just in the ocean." Still others may be thinking, "You're crazy, where are you going with this?" For those of you in the latter category: thanks, I know I'm crazy but, as always, I have a point.

   I will tell you that I hope I'm salty. As well as I know I'm salty because my dog licks me :D Before I get to the reason why I want to be salty let me tell you a story. One time I was at a Jr. High soccer game. One of my High School players volunteered to be ball girl (If the ball goes out of bounds she gives the player a new one and gets the old one to make the game go faster).

   We were standing on the sideline talking about how things were going. I was semi-upset with her because she wasn't playing on my sister's team that season and I joked with her about it. She said, "are you salty?" She meant "are you jealous?" I said, "no, well maybe a little, but if I am that's actually a good thing according to the Bible." She laughed and one of the other coaches came over and was confused. I explained Matthew 5:13, which says: "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."

   Jesus was speaking in a riddle, which is typical of him because he wants to find the seekers. He wants people to dig deeper into his words and find meaning. What Jesus is talking about in this verse is that if we are not doing our jobs then what good are we? Salt has a job. Salt's job is to flavor things. But what's the point of putting salt on food if it isn't going to add flavor?

   In the same way, what's the point of us going into the world to do our jobs, or make disciples, if we are not actually going to do our job. If we are lukewarm in our faith how are we going to spread the saltiness? How do we flavor others with the good news of the gospel? We don't if we are not doing our job of spreading the good news.

   In the end, in my story, the player and the coach had a good laugh. Even though, originally, I used the verse out of context. I corrected myself and had a good conversation with the player (who is a believer) and the coach. In that little episode I was spreading my saltiness (the good kind, not the jealous kind), which is exactly what we are called to do.

   So, are you salty? Are you spreading your saltiness? How can you spread the Gospel today?

   Matthew 28:16-20 and Luke 14:34-35

   Image from here.