Matthew 5:13 “You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet.”
Salt serves as a preserver. But when Jesus calls us the salt of the earth, he’s referring to more than using us to stave off a rotting culture. Salt also provides enhancement.
This saline substance is unique in its ability to enhance taste by intensifying certain flavors and decreasing others. I was eating a chocolate salted caramel the other day, and I thought, “Who in the world would have thought to put caramel and salt together and have it come out so delicious?” (By the way, I found out the man who invented that combination was Henri Le Roux, a French candy maker!)
Jesus created us to bring taste out of an increasingly tasteless world. So what does that look like?
One person remarked, “It looks like the best babysitters, who clean the dishes before the parents arrive home, who leave the place better than they found it.” Empowered by the Holy Spirit, salty Christians make the world better.
Countless footprints from all walks of life reflect this. Christians founded all but one of the Ivy League universities. And numerous Christian organizations today serve on the front lines of bringing education to children in third world countries. Christian benefactors founded the first hospital, and thousands of hospitals all over the world bear names including the word “Saint,” pointing to their Christian beginnings. Rembrandt made the world more beautiful with his painting. Michael Jr. enhances the world with his clean uproarious comedy.
C.S. Lewis says in Mere Christianity a person who had never tasted salt would have a hard time believing it enhanced the taste of everything he placed it on. He would mistakenly think everything would taste like salt. But in fact, salt makes eggs eggier, popcorn more popcornish, steaks steakier.
When we use our gifts to enhance the world, we also stimulate the salt in our fellow image bearers. And the world exponentially becomes a more enjoyable place to live. So let’s do it. Let’s bring on the taste!