IMPACT AS SALT (2)

“For everyone will be SEASONED with FIRE, and every sacrifice will be SEASONED with SALT” – Mark 9:49.

Believers in Christ are called to have Preservative IMPACT as SALT: “For everyone will be seasoned with Fire, and every sacrifice will be seasoned with SALT. Salt is good, but if the salt loses its flavor, how will you season it? HAVE SALT in yourselves, and have peace with one another” (Mk.9: 49-50). This is a call to distinctive Christian Living; a reminder for Believers to accept the cost of discipleship, intentionally abstain from sin, pursue righteousness, and be willing to sacrificially endure persecution and trials rather than blend with the world (1Pet.1: 6-9). The metaphor of Salt teaches that true disciples should be impactful and live in purity and peace with men. To God-glorifying Impact in this hostile word, we must be distinct as His followers. This is what, to some extent, fiery trials help bring about!

The Church and the Believer is “The Salt of the earth” (Mt.5:13). The word “the” is exclusive; it means that the earth has no other salt to preserve it! Salt is a Purifier and Preserver; an exceptional preservative. Before the days of refrigeration, when people went on long journeys and wanted to preserve meat, they salted it. The salt had the effect of holding back the forces of decay that would otherwise have worked in the meat. Likewise, as the salt of the earth, Believers are here to hold back the forces of corruption. Just as salt purifies and preserves food, God purifies Believers of sin, preserves us from destruction, and uses us as powerful preservative agents to our world.

As long as the Church and Believers are in the earth, and “have salt,” the forces of evil that are at work – ungodliness, rebellion, and wickedness – will not be allowed to fully manifest. Only after the church has been taken from the earth will wickedness attain its final culmination. We are here to arrest and retard the forces of corruption affecting the moral, social, political, and other realms of the society. If our presence does not commend the earth to God and cause Him to act differently toward the world than He would if we were not here, and if our presence does not hold back the forces of corruption, then we have become salt that has lost its preservative power – saltless!

Our Lord said: “But if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men” (Mt.5:13b). The term “good-for-nothing” is one of the worst remarks to describe a person; only left to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men. “Men’s feet” will trample the saltless church! God will use men to do it! Hordes of enemies around the world would consider it a privilege to trample the saltless believer underfoot. This will never happen if we’ll choose to live as the Salt of the earth!