"On the day you were born your cord was not cut, nor were you washed with water to make you clean, nor were you rubbed with salt or wrapped in cloth."
Salt was also used as a purifier. It became like an antiseptic in certain incidences. It was used to clean wounds. However, when salt got into a wound it would hurt!
Christianity may rub many the wrong way because it’s irritating in their wounds of sin. We shouldn’t purposefully try to be irritating, but also not surprised when we seek to influence others morally and ethically. Salt symbolized the purity and honesty when agreements were made between people. Christians are to be an example by not lowering standards. Being like salt involves being honest and diligent in our work, conscientious in speech, in deeds, and in thought.
I have been thinking about the influence of music over the last 50 years. It used to be that Dick Clark’s American Bandstand was considered the music of rebellion with rock and roll but look at what’s on TV and internet today. I remember when Gone with the Wind was being talked about because Redd Butler used one curse word. Have you watched cartoons and how foul mouthed the characters are in today’s entertainment even for children? Everyone gasped when the first couple was shown, not in separate beds, but in the same one. Oh my! Don’t look at how it is today! No wonder commitment to marriages are declining rapidly.
I flipped the channels and saw dancing with the stars and first thought it had something to do with Victoria’s Secret. I worry about our children and our grandchildren and the world where texting nude pictures to one another in elementary school is not uncommon.
What would the world be like if there were no “salty” Christians? We don’t have to guess…just read the book of Revelation once the salt is removed! If you think we’re in a wild spiral now, just wait! We need to be “salty” saints when it comes to conversations at work, or with friends at restaurants. How do we act like Jesus at sporting events, especially when our kids play at school sports?
The best way we can seek to be purifying agents is point people to the only One that can cleanse and purify anyone from their sin - Jesus Christ. Many have experienced freedom from sin and guilt that makes people so miserable, who wonder what in the world is life for anyway.
It is not uncommon for me to hear someone tell me they wished they accepted Christ as their Savior years earlier; that they wasted so much of their lives. They discovered we really can know God. We can experience His closeness and power in our lives when we stop living by our own lusts and wants and invite Him to cleanse us and take control. Instead of our lives being constricted, it is a freeing-up process. Born again people are not sorry about it, they are freed from guilt; the past is past.
Application: Be salt to the world daily.
Prayer: Lord God, Your Grace is amazing! When I consider the freedom You offer through the gift of Your Son, I can only bow in humble adoration. Thank You, Jesus for dying for my sins!
