34 “Salt is good, but if salt loses its flavor, how can its flavor be restored? 35 It is of no value for the soil or for the manure pile; it is to be thrown out. The one who has ears to hear had better listen!”

REFLECTIONS

Written by Joki Truong

Salt is a pretty staple item in my pantry, and it comes in many different forms. From my go-to pink Himalayan to the classic Asian chicken powder to the humble soy sauce: all of these are essential ingredients in most (if not all) of the recipes I cook at home. It adds flavour to an otherwise bland dish. But can you imagine if salt wasn’t … salty? It’s even in the name! What good would it be if something didn’t fulfil the purpose it was made for?

In today’s short passage, Jesus continues speaking with the crowds who have been following him, telling them the cost of being his disciple. Jesus gets straight to the point here: salt is only good when it serves the purpose it has been given. Once it loses its saltiness, it cannot be made salty again. It has no use, and as a result, it gets thrown out.

This reference to salt reminded me of Matthew 5:13 where Jesus refers to us as the salt of the earth. There, in a similar way to this passage in Luke, the “salt” would be thrown out if we were to lose our saltiness. God has saved us to be set apart from the world, to imitate Christ as his followers, and to glorify Him as we live the life Jesus has bought for us by his death on the cross. If we do not live to serve God, we are only serving ourselves, and as a people He has re-created for a good purpose (like salt), we are no longer fulfilling that purpose he set before us.

Have you been living a life that is set apart for God? I know I struggle the most when the world deceives me to think it’s just easier to just do what I want instead of what God wants for me. Pray that as the salt of the earth, we will never lose our saltiness, but that we will fix our eyes on Jesus, listen and obey his teaching, and live out the purpose we have been given: to glorify God.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Joki is a member of our Fairfield Evening congregation.