Volume 29, No.28                                                
July 18, 2004

A Seasoned Faith

“You’re the salt of the earth.  But what good is salt if it has lost its flavour?  It’ll be thrown out... as useless.” Matt. 5:13

   Salt.  A sprinkling of science may flavour your spiritual perception of the metaphor Jesus uses to describe the difference He wants us to make in this world.

   For starters, salt is the essence of life.  It’s in and around you.  Your body contains eight ounces of salt which plays a vital role in regulating heartbeat and the contraction of muscles, nerve impulse transmission, digestion and the elimination of waste and toxins.  Deprived of salt, you’d slide into convulsions, paralysis and death.

   But though you need about a third of an ounce of salt each day, eating more than four ounces at once would kill you.  That’s partly because salt absorbs water and would drastic dehydrate your body, which is also why you can’t drink sea water. The more you drank, the more it would dry you out.

   In another ironic twist, salt is made up of two elements that, on their own, would either blow up in your mouth (sodium) or poison you (chlorine).  Combined into sodium chloride, they become essential to life, right from the beginning.  Even the amniotic fluid that surrounds a fetus in the womb is essentially saltwater. Once we’re born, we’re still surrounded by salt.  There’s enough in the oceans to cover the world fourteen inches deep.

   Perhaps that explains why saltiness is one of just four sensations the tongue can taste, along with whatever is sweet, sour or bitter.  Of the four, only sweet and bitter are inborn.  Saltiness is an acquired taste.  According to scientists, the hypothalamus at the base of the brain     
measures sodium and potassium in body fluids.  When they get too high — either from not drinking enough, or from eating too much salt — the hypothalamus triggers thirst.

   Salt can quench or corrode.  Its corrosive qualities are why people in some ancient cultures believed it could destroy evil, prompting them to wear sachets of salt near the heart for protection and sprinkle it on brooms before sweeping their houses.  Today, salt is used to detect the presence, not of evil, but oil.  It’s often found side-by-side with oil, so petroleum companies use deposits of the mineral as a guide to potential drilling sites.

   All of this has spiritual implications.  It seems to me Jesus was using salt as a symbol for godliness.  Find godliness in your life and you’ll also find a free-flowing reserve of the Holy Spirit’s energy.  But godliness has great power in its own right.  If you use it to protect your heart and sweep clean the inner recesses of your soul, you’ll be safe as it corrodes and slowly kills the evil impulses of sinful self-centredness.

   Once its conditioned by God’s love, your heart is the spiritual hypothalamus that triggers your thirst for righteousness.  As you experience true godliness, you crave the Living Water, the Spirit of Christ. But make no mistake.  In human nature, godliness is far from an inbred value.  It’s an acquired attitude and behaviour that takes prayer, patience and perseverance to perfect.

   And like the physical mineral, the spiritual salt of godliness is the combination of two essential elements:  faith and love.  Without each other, they’re volatile, even poisonous.  Together, they’re the essence of spiritual life, surrounding us from the very moment of our new birth.  When kept in balance, faith and love keep us healthy by controlling the pride and legalism that would otherwise be fatal.  Faith and love regulate the heart, facilitate each godly impulse, nourish the soul and eliminate toxins from the Body.

   So be godly in your words and actions.  “Live wisely among those who aren’t Christians, and make the most of every opportunity.  Let your conversation be effective, seasoned with salt, so you’ll have the right answer for everyone.” (Col. 4:6,7)  But remember, God may first have to give you a good shake.

By Rick Gamble, published in Cross Current, the weekly newsletter of the Followers of Christ congregation in Brantford, Ontario, Canada.  Reprint at will in not-for-profit publications.  To subscribe to this free, weekly article, contact sgamble@bfree.on.ca