A Call to the Covanent of Salt…

In every post this week, God has reminded us of our calling. Actually, it is His calling to us, as God always is the initiator and it is to His purpose for which we are called.

He has called and calls still-for Christ Followers to be salt and light in our dark and dying world…

“You are like salt for everyone on earth. But if salt no longer tastes like salt, how can it make food salty? All it is good for is to be thrown out and walked on. You are like light for the whole world. A city built on top of a hill cannot be hidden, and no one would light a lamp and put it under a clay pot. A lamp is placed on a lamp stand, where it can give light to everyone in the house. Make your light shine, so that others will see the good that you do and will praise your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5: 13-16).

This call is not exclusive-not only for those ones who serve overseas or other dark corners where few fear to tread. Nor is the call for those others who have been given an official title by the church.

To ALL Christ Followers, He is calls….

Will we listen? Or what should we do if we no longer taste like salt, how can we be made to taste salty again? Luke 14:34. What if we have become tasteless, insipid and have lost His savor?

The next verse in Luke, verse 35, it states [we are] no longer good for the soil or even for the manure pile… simply [to be] thrown out. If you have ears, pay attention!

Just as salt makes food pleasant and palatable, salt also preserves from impurity and putrefaction. So being salt in the world, we are to make a conscious choice to daily follow and abide in Christ, and by living within such a contract, Christ sprinkles Gods’ savor into all our doings… flavoring all our encounters with His blessing to others.

But if the salt has lost its savor-lost the relationship- the covenant of salt, it becomes tasteless and loses its preserving properties. In some countries and in some places in the world, I have read it is common to find saltless, salt. In the 1600’s, a theologian by the name of Henry Maundrell, once wrote about this phenomena.

“In the Valley of Salt, which is about four hours from Aleppo, there is a kind of dry crust of salt, which sounds, when the horses go upon it, like frozen snow when it is walked upon. Along on one side of the valley, towards Gibul, there is a small precipice about two men’s lengths, occasioned by the continual taking away the salt; and in this you may see how the veins of it lie. I broke a piece of it, of which the part that was exposed to the rain, sun, and air, though it had the sparks and particles of salt, yet it had perfectly lost its savor. The inner part, which was connected with the rock, retained its savour, as I found by proof”.

Maundrell continues:
“A preacher, or private Christian, who has lost the life of Christ, and the witness of his Spirit, out of his soul, may be likened to this salt. He may have the sparks and glittering particles of true wisdom, but without its unction or comfort. Only that which is connected with the rock, the soul that is in union with Christ Jesus by the Holy Spirit, can preserve its savor, and be instrumental of good to others” (Biblical Illustrator).

Going back to the beginning…. Back to the word for which we started i.e. Luke 14: 35, it tells us, “If [we] have ears, pay attention!”

This is a hard word and yet, Jesus the Messiah, Isa al-masih, calls to us. He calls… Be more than ourselves. He calls us to die and live for Him. Without Him we can do nothing (John 15: 5), and become a hindrance… a barrier and fit only to be cast out.

Our Savior concludes with a call… a call to ALL… A call to take notice and to take warning: He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.