REALSample

The Salt of the Earth

By Robert Morris 

Years ago, I was buying a car and really hit it off with the salesman. We had a great time talking about everything from hunting and fishing to fast cars. By the end of the transaction, we felt like old friends. That’s when he asked me what I did for a living. When I told him I was a pastor, he looked stunned. “You’ve got to be kidding me!” he said. “You’re not like any pastor I’ve ever met.”

We decided to go to lunch later that day, and he shared his story with me. When he was growing up, he became friends with a boy at school whose father was a pastor. This boy was mischievous, and one day he convinced my friend to help him break into the church and ransack a room just for fun. When the pastor found out who did it, he was embarrassed. He didn’t want his son to look bad so he blamed it on my friend and then kicked him out of the church in front of the entire congregation. It was the first and only time my friend ever went to church.

I told him I was sorry he had met a bad pastor all those years ago. We decided to meet again, and after a few more lunches, he accepted Christ as his Savior.

In Matthew 5:13, Jesus tells us we are the salt of the earth. Salt is a preservative and keeps things from decomposing. We are living among spiritually dead people, so by being the salt to others, we’re preserving lives so they can hear the gospel and be saved. Without “spiritual salt,” our society would die.

Salt also causes things to taste better. Pretend with me for a moment the gospel is a steak. We’re the salt that helps it taste good. In the same way, when people come around us, they should be asking, “What is that taste? It’s so good!” And it’s because we’re giving them a taste of God!

But Jesus goes on to caution us in this verse that if salt becomes bad and loses its flavor—its influence—it’s not good for anything and should be thrown out. The first pastor my friend met was bad salt and made the gospel taste bad. But once my friend experienced good salt, he wanted to know Jesus!

When people are around you, what do they taste? Are you making God taste good or bitter? Are you making them hungry and thirsty for Him? If you want to be good salt, you need to stay close to Jesus and be purified by His word. That’s all it takes to let people taste and see that the Lord is good.

Prayer

Lord, thank You for making me salt to a world that needs to be preserved by the good news of the gospel. Help me to keep my flavor and be the good salt that will make others want to know You more. Thank You, Lord, for putting people in my life who I can influence for the kingdom. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Memory Verse

But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 1 Peter 2:9 (NIV)