Discipleship: Attributes of Salt - 3

Continuing our discourse of Christ's directive to His disciples to be salt and light to their worlds, our third post on the significance of salt.

Salt is essential to a body’s chemical balance.
Sodium is one of the primary electrolytes in the body. All three electrolytes (sodium, potassium, and calcium) are available in unrefined salt, as are other vital minerals needed for optimal bodily function. Too much or too little salt in the diet can lead to muscle cramps, dizziness, blood pressure problems, or even an electrolyte disturbance, which can cause severe, even fatal, neurological problems. Drinking too much water with insufficient salt intake puts a person at risk of water intoxication. Salt is even sometimes used as a health aid, such as in treatment of dysautonomia (nervous system dis-ease.)

So also is "balance" a key word for everyone. Taking care of the whole person - physical, emotional, spiritual, social, mental - proper diet, exercise, time spent with God, healthy thought patterns that lead to healthy expression of emotions, balance between work and play, relationships and solitude. Salt is a reminder to keep balance.

Salt to stimulte thirst
An old home-spun yarn goes like this: “you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it drink. However, if you feed it salt, it’ll then thirst for water.” The apostle Paul encouraged Christians to "let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt" (Colossians 4:6). When others observe the disciple of Christ’ and hear his words, a 'thirst' is generated to know more about Christ. (Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. They will be filled.)
When Micheal Jordan was in his prime in pro basketball, one of the slogans thrown around at that time was, “I wanna be like Mike.” A serious question we can ask ourselves, “Is my lifestyle, are my words like salt to those with whom I come in contact? Are those in my family motivated to thirst for Christ because of me?” God help us!!!

Too much salt?
The disciple of Christ can be too salty. That would be the person who is legalistically serving God – a focus on the externals. Don’t do this. Don’t do that. You should look a certain way. You must have a quiet time daily.
I was raised in a very legalistic church. The more we didn’t do, the more spiritual we were. Don’t dance. Don’t go to movies. No mixed swimming. No makeup. The list goes on and on. In a sense, too much salt, which makes one want to spit it out. Spiritual abuse is another term for too much salt.

My first wife, Ann, had an obsession of having to respond to church altar calls. As a young child with a very sensitive conscience, evangelists would scare the hell out of their listeners (probably for more notches on their evangelistic belts.) Every time the altar was opened for prayer, she felt the compulsion to go forward to get saved again and again. That’s spiritual abuse. In a sense that is too much salt.

Salt flavors, preserves, heals, is essential to balance, melts coldness and stimulates to thirst. So also the disciple of Christ, influencing his/her world by word and deed. Disciple of Christ, you are the salt of the earth. Don’t lose your saltiness.

Tomorrow's post will speak to the issue of "light." Be a light to your world.