Tag: preservation

Matthew 5:13 (NIV)

“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.”

Last year my husband and I took a trip to a mountain range wilderness area in the northern part of South Africa, called the “Soutpansberge”. The Afrikaans name translates directly to the “Salt pan mountains.” We stayed at a beautiful lodge for 2 nights, and one of the special surprises came during the evening turndown.

When we got back from dinner, on my pillow, instead of a chocolate, I noticed a small vial with the beautiful pink salt of the ancient mountain range in it – along with a note explaining the fascinating history and geological significance of the area.

I took it home and placed it in my bedside table drawer, never to be thought of again. However, about a month ago I re-discovered the same vial of salt…this time around though, I felt a stirring in my spirit to think deeper about the salt…

Most Christians are aware of the Scripture on salt and light in Matthew that forms part of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. It came to my mind again and I decided to explore the use of salt in Biblical times…

There were no fridges of course during those times, so the way food was preserved (especially meat) was by rubbing it with salt. It was a precious commodity during those times but also a significant theological symbol.

I won’t go into all the details here… but what stood out for me was the use of salt as a preservation agent in those times.

By telling his disciples to be the salt of the earth, Jesus is essentially asking them to preserve the world from moral decay…

In the context of preservation, I then envisioned the end times and the start of all the disasters and plagues that John described in Revelation, that would be released upon the earth.

I realised that the Bride of Christ is currently preserving the earth – that is indeed why we are called the Salt of the Earth. But significantly – once we are removed from this world – the decay will rapidly start setting in.

The rapture is a widely debated topic within the Church, and I’m not in a position to claim to have all the answers. It is starting to become very evident though, that there is an element of preservation in this world currently, and I do believe that for the end to come, it needs to be removed. I have no doubt that this event will be quick and unexpected, since Scripture warns us that we need to be ready (Matthew 25:1-13).

My question to you is if you have perhaps lost your saltiness? Potentially being “thrown out and trampled underfoot”, instead of meeting our Maker in Heaven when we ascend into the heavenly realms, is perhaps not something we think about as Christians often enough.

If you do a simple google search on how salt can lose its saltiness, it states that it can lose its flavour through impurities, dilution or environmental exposure.

Impurities:

Christ calls us to be holy just as He is holy. Impurities can start small, like a small lie that you might feel is justified, but it then grows into full on deception as you need to tell more lies to keep up appearances. Or a bad habit, that you just can’t seem to shake, but you don’t have the humility to take it to Jesus and to other believers for accountability to receive freedom from its hold on you.

Dilution:

I believe this happens when the treasure that we have in Christ is overshadowed by the things of this world. When things like career progression, wealth, education, possessions, hobbies, our image, etc. dilutes our relationship with God, because if other people look at us, they only see this particular aspect of our lives and not Christ in us anymore.

Environmental exposure:

What comes to mind here is what we allow into our homes and into our private space. For example: social media exposure and spending hours a day lost in the algorithms created by the big tech companies to keep us captured and busy every day, instead of creating the space and the environment to hear the still small voice of the Holy Spirit. But it can also be the friends we surround ourselves with that don’t share our beliefs and influence us to behave like they do, the music we listen to, games we play and the movies we watch that don’t honour God. 

I am guilty of allowing all 3 these things to impact my “saltiness”. I am comforted however, by the fact that I know I can still turn to God for His grace while there is still time, and ask Him to restore my saltiness again, enabling me to flavour the world with goodness, so that all people can taste and see that He is good! (Psalm 34:8)

My prayer for you is to know that time is of the essence. We can look at the fig tree and see its leaves starting to come out, and we know the season is about to change (Matthew 24:32). In the same way, looking at events unfolding in the world presently, we can have the discernment to know a season is coming soon where God’s kingdom will be at hand – let’s be ready for it!