IMPACT AS SALT (3)

“Can FLAVORLESS FOOD be eaten without SALT? Or is there any taste in the white of an egg?” – Job 6:6

Believers in Christ are called to manifest Flavouring IMPACT as SALT: “Can FLAVORLESS FOOD be eaten without SALT? Or is there any taste in the white of an egg?” (Job 6:6). Job asked these rhetorical questions, the answer to which is “No”! Job used this simple analogy about tasteless food to communicate his deep sense of dissatisfaction and bitterness. Just as food without salt is bland and unappealing, Job felt that the counsel his friends were offering him was tasteless and lacked substance. Their words were like tasteless food – empty and foolish. The major inference from today’s meditation scripture is that salt adds flavour to food.

A major function of Salt is to give flavour to that which would otherwise lack it. Salt makes food more enjoyable to eat. The presence of salt makes the difference, causing us to enjoy food we would otherwise refuse to eat. Unappetizing food becomes tasty and acceptable when seasoned with salt. Similarly, Christians can add Flavor to the world in words and actions. We who believe in Christ can add flavour to our world by living out our faith and serving others. God enjoys this flavour. Our presence makes the earth acceptable to God and commends the earth to His Mercy. Because we are here, God continues to deal with the earth in Grace and Mercy rather than in wrath and judgment.

As Believers, we are like grains of salt. Our presence makes a difference. We are here to give the earth flavour in the sight of God. Apart from our presence here, there is no reason why God should deal with this world in Grace and Mercy any longer. We are the only factor that makes the earth acceptable to the Lord, the only restraint that holds back His judgement and wrath on a Christ-rejecting world. Our responsibility here is to live in such a way that we commend this earth to God. This principle is aptly illustrated in the account of Abraham’s intercession on behalf of Sodom (Genesis 18:16–33). The Lord told Abraham that He was going to Sodom to see if that city’s wickedness had come to the point where judgment could no longer be withheld, but Abraham, as salt of the earth, interceded for Mercy.

However, that as few as ten righteous could not be found in Sodom shows how terrible a job Lot had been doing! His saltless life failed God. He was a believer all right, having heard all the revelations from Abraham, but he was not living in the light of that revelation. Tragically, Lot took his family into Sodom, but he could not get them out again! He escaped with just two daughters – ultimately, not even his wife got out. When she looked back at the city, which was contrary to God’s instructions, she turned into a pillar of salt (Gen.19:26).