Salt of the earth

Call To Prayer

Title: Salt of the earth

By: Simon Nuhu Maina

Date: 14.07.2023

“You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot (Matthew 5:13).

The Holy Scriptures make us understand that in the new dispensation, the believers who have experienced the new birth (salvation) by faith in Christ Jesus are justified by grace (Ephesians 2:8). It is crucial we also understand that the scripture defines us according to functions and identity. The functions are specifically the roles we play in the Kingdom by representing God in full capacity. Some of these roles are; light of the world (Matthew 5:14), salt of the earth (Matthew 5:13), Ambassadors for Christ ( 2 Corinthians 5:20),  stewards (1 Corinthians 4:2), co-partners/laborers ( Philippians 2:13). By functions, it means we perform a service unto God, courtesy of grace, to fulfill divine purpose on earth. The identity actually speaks of who we are in Christ, our privilege of His divine nature which often is demonstrated effortlessly.

As we know, God is Spirit (John 4:24), and man is a tripartite being [(Spirit, soul and body (1 Thessalonians 5:23)]. So for God to manifest Himself in earthly jurisdiction, Man has to be the vessel. The identity we have is numerous, they are; heirs and joint-heirs with Christ (Romans 8:17), Sons and children of God (Romans 8:14-16, Galatians 4:6-7), kings and priests (Revelation 1:6), royal priesthood, chosen generation, holy nation, peculiar people (1 Peter 2:9), gods (Psalm 82:6). Coming back to the role we are given, I would like to specifically throw light on the salt of the world. We are all familiar with salt, although it is of different types depending on the range of application, it has a significant function in chemistry, in industry, in households etc.

Even though salt has versatile use and applications, it possesses two fundamental qualities that makes it unique among important cooking ingredients. It’s first and major quality, is the ability to add taste and value to food. You can agree with me, when cooking a meal, continental, intercontinental, local or traditional food, salt is added to it in order to bring good taste. No meal is complete without the addition of salt. Sugar is sweet but has deleterious effects to the health; onion is also good but it’s spicy, likewise pepper.

The second quality of salt that makes it stand out among other common household ingredients is; it is used as a preservative. Even with the emerging technologies that birth modern preservation such as by cooling in a refrigerator,  salt still maintains its high value. It is used to preserve foodstuff, fish, meat and to some extend treatment of wounds.

As salt of the world, beloved in Christ, we are expected to add taste to the world by living peacefully, godly, and holy. The world lacks spiritual taste, therefore we need to see the need to love as Christ. More so, we act as  preservative of the world. We preserve the world by upholding the righteousness of God; we are in perilous times where the morals of the world are fast decaying. There is corruption and decadence in various places.

Prayer point

Let’s thank God for the word; ask Him to help us be the true salt of the world.