Stay Salty

You are the salt of the earth; 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.

Matthew 5:13

August is a very important month for St. Luke Missionary Baptist Church.  We are celebrating our 147 anniversary!!!!  Wow!  Listen, I get goosebumps when I hear of a couple that has been married 30 years.  I think of how they had to work to stay together that long.  I think of the memories that they have created in their time together.  So to realize that a body of believers has remained in fellowship for 147 years is mind-blowing.  In order to kick off our monthlong festivities, Wednesday night REfresh came back in with a bang.  Ladies first.  And I received quite a word about remaining salty.

Matthew 5:13 is part of Jesus’s famous Sermon on the Mount.  He addresses a variety of topics throughout the sermon, but this verse admonishes believers to be salty.  In urban vernacular, being salty means that somebody is in their feelings. (I realize that I just used slang to describe slang…be patient guys.)  It means that someone feels hurt or upset.  But that is not the type of salty that Jesus is speaking of.  Salt has specific qualities that we would do well to possess.

Salt enhances the flavor of meals.  There is nothing like spending time creating a wonderful feast for others.  The food smells amazing and is picture perfect.  Your guests sit down at the spread of food and have their first bite.  And then reach for the salt.  It looks good.  Smells good.  But is missing an ingredient that takes the meal up a notch.  As believers, we can look good and smell good but still miss the mark.  We have an obligation to enhance the lives of those around us.  We should add joy.  We should help others to level up.

Salt also preserves.  When refrigeration was not an option, salt saved the day.  Folks would rub their meats down with salt so that the meat would not spoil.  Although I am not advocating for you to rub others down, I am advocating for you to preserve the truth of God’s word.  Even when it is unpopular.  Even when it stings for others to hear it.  We want people to have life and have life more abundantly.  We must be willing to do what it takes to keep God’s word alive.

Salt creates a thirst.  Sitting around eating salty food will make you feel parched.  Being around a believer should create a similar sensation.  We should be loving.  We should be compassionate.  We should remain faithful when it would be easier to walk away.  We should be calm when the storms of life are raging.  Others should want to experience the kind of relationship that we have with Christ.  They should thirst for a drink of Living Water.

Being salty is not always easy, but it is always necessary.  If we are not salty, we have a big problem.  We lose our flavor.  If we have no flavor, we are useless.  We are tossed to the side.  We don’t provide value.  I guess you could say that our living is in vain, and no one wants to experience that.  We have our orders ya’ll.  Let’s stay salty.  #wepreach