The need to be salty saints …

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There are those who mourn the lack of salty saints in the world, but that might depend on the meaning you’re applying to “salty”!

One definition of a person who is “salty” is to be racy or coarse, a grouch! In that case, we may have an abundant supply of “salty saints,” at least if you base such a measurement on social media exchanges among professing Christians who can get racy, coarse, or grouchy rather quickly when online.

But when scripture refers to the saints as “salt,” it refers to something entirely different. Matthew 5:13 starts with this sentence: “You are the salt of the earth …”

A writer for Our Daily Bread once attempted to examine this issue of saintly saltiness, beginning with salt itself …

    If you were to evaporate a ton of water from the Pacific Ocean, you would get approximately 79 pounds of salt. A ton of Atlantic water would yield 81 pounds. And from the Dead Sea you would get almost 500 pounds of salt.

    As these statistics demonstrate, the earth’s bodies of water vary greatly in their degree of saltiness. So do Christians. Jesus said that we are “the salt of the earth” (Matt. 5:13). But we all have different levels of “salt content.” Let’s look at a few Scripture references to see what it means to be “salty”:

  • Salt enhances flavor (Job 6:6).
  • Salt indicated purity in speech (Col. 4:6).
  • Salt symbolizes keeping a promise (Num. 18:19).
  • Salt speaks of goodness (Mark 9:50).

    • Now, check your salt content. Are you the kind of person others like to be around? Is your conversation pure? Do you keep promises? Are you characterized by goodness? An unbelieving world is watching and listening to you. What do they see and hear?

Salt has an affect wherever it is placed! But what use is salt that has lost its saltiness?

“You are the salt of the earth. But what good is salt if it has lost its flavor? Can you make it salty again? It will be thrown out and trampled underfoot as worthless,” Matthew 5:13.

Those who are the salt of the earth don’t bring about the affects of raciness, or coarseness, or grouchiness, but rather infuse the flavors of the Gospel … love, grace, compassion, and forgiveness.

Salty saints make the world, and the people they are around, better!

Does that describe you? Are you a salty saint?

Scotty