Discipleship: Attributes of Salt

Why would Jesus use the metaphor of salt when challenging His disciples to "be salt?" What is the value of salt?

Salt adds flavoring.
The flavor of many types of food is enhanced by a shaking of salt. As I write this, it is corn season. To my palate, sweet corn with butter and salt trips my taste buds like no other food. Stripped corn cobs and a residue of salty butter on my chin are the marks of a great meal.

So also is the disciple of Christ to his world. He should flavor it. We read of the savour of the knowledge of Christ in 2 Co. 2:14 But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance (savour) of the knowledge of him.

A question I must ask myself as a disciple of Christ: Does a person leave my company encouraged and stimulated to “hunger and thirst for righteousness?” Have I, like salt, flavored his world?

Salt acts as a preservative.
Salt has been used from time immemorial as an agent in the preservation of meats. It is said that the salt of Palestine gathered from the marshes is not pure. Because of the foreign substances in it, it loses its savor and becomes bland and useless when exposed to the sun and air, or when permitted for any considerable time to come in contact with the ground. Pure salt does not lose its savor. The verse teaches that God's people keep the world from decay and sleaze. The lifestyle of a disciple of Christ, brought into close contact with his/her world, is designed to both arrest the festering corruption of humanity and season its plainness.

Salt, to flavor and preserve. More in tomorrow's post on the attributes of a "salty Christian."