Salt & Sugar
Matthew 5:13, NLT.
"You are the salt of the earth. But what good is salt if it has lost its flavor? Can you make it salty again? It will be thrown out and trampled underfoot as worthless."
Salt. I do love salt. After enjoying two slices of buttered toast with garlic salt (someone reading is cringing, I'm sure), I'm sitting here eating Santitas chips... which have salt on them. It reminds me of when I was about nine, and while no one was around to tell me I shouldn't, I finally buckled down and ate a spoonful of salt just to prove to myself that I could. What can I say? Stupid now, stupider then. Suffice to say, I don't recommend trying this at home. In the end I did manage to get it down, but it was mostly due to stubborn refusal of the idea of quitting, having come this far already. I did drink several cupfuls of water directly afterwards though. :-)
A spoonful of white sugar though... now there's something I tried at an earlier age. Sore throat? Spoonful of sugar! Cough? Sugar! Hiccups? Everyone knows the cure.... a spoonful of sugar! I think I must have been the reason white sugar was essentially banned from our house probably near a decade ago.
What stuck in my mind this past week, is just how similar these two ingredients are, in looks. I think I've yet to meet someone without some story of a tragic accident- or comedic prank- concerning salt and sugar. And because of that, the two strikingly remind me of the dichotomy between followers of Christ, and those who pretend to be, or pretend to be similar.
Matthew 5:13 challenges me to ask myself if I am authentic and following Christ as I say I am, but when I came to grips with that topic, and read again (just this past week), I really just saw the first sentence. "You are the salt of the earth".
It makes sense in an analogical way, we bring flavor to a bland world. A tasteful option for the tedium of nothing. But you know me, I got started thinking, and ended up with a whole lot more. Suppose salt is not the main point, but what it salts, is the point. After all, analogies are just there to help us think things through. I'm not seeking to twist God's word, only to provide yet another analogy to ponder. I got thinking about what salt is used for: meat, potatoes, beans, stew, soup. Lots of things, but it's only a condiment. An addition, or topping. And usually, it's for strong and healthy foods.
Salt is not particularly palatable in large amounts (to put it lightly), and lost people simply turn away. But evenly spread out- over the meat and potatoes of the gospel- it can make a huge difference. We are salt of the world, but only good when used as an intriguing condiment for what really reaches people. Strong, life-giving meat that is the gospel.
Conversely, sugar can be eaten in large amounts. Sugar doesn't necessitate another food to go with it. Plain sugar is not healthy, but easily attractive all the same. The lost are easily fooled by sugar, and when they experience the results, they step back with fists clenched and hurt eyes misted by anger. Tragedy.
How I wish sometimes that sugar did not exist. Yet it does, and it is part of God's plan. He will work all things according to his plan, and I am simply blessed to be used as salt for spreading the gospel.
Keep offering life-giving meat and nourishing stew, for those who taste will surely reach for the salt as well.
"You are the salt of the earth. But what good is salt if it has lost its flavor? Can you make it salty again? It will be thrown out and trampled underfoot as worthless."
Salt. I do love salt. After enjoying two slices of buttered toast with garlic salt (someone reading is cringing, I'm sure), I'm sitting here eating Santitas chips... which have salt on them. It reminds me of when I was about nine, and while no one was around to tell me I shouldn't, I finally buckled down and ate a spoonful of salt just to prove to myself that I could. What can I say? Stupid now, stupider then. Suffice to say, I don't recommend trying this at home. In the end I did manage to get it down, but it was mostly due to stubborn refusal of the idea of quitting, having come this far already. I did drink several cupfuls of water directly afterwards though. :-)
A spoonful of white sugar though... now there's something I tried at an earlier age. Sore throat? Spoonful of sugar! Cough? Sugar! Hiccups? Everyone knows the cure.... a spoonful of sugar! I think I must have been the reason white sugar was essentially banned from our house probably near a decade ago.
What stuck in my mind this past week, is just how similar these two ingredients are, in looks. I think I've yet to meet someone without some story of a tragic accident- or comedic prank- concerning salt and sugar. And because of that, the two strikingly remind me of the dichotomy between followers of Christ, and those who pretend to be, or pretend to be similar.
Matthew 5:13 challenges me to ask myself if I am authentic and following Christ as I say I am, but when I came to grips with that topic, and read again (just this past week), I really just saw the first sentence. "You are the salt of the earth".
It makes sense in an analogical way, we bring flavor to a bland world. A tasteful option for the tedium of nothing. But you know me, I got started thinking, and ended up with a whole lot more. Suppose salt is not the main point, but what it salts, is the point. After all, analogies are just there to help us think things through. I'm not seeking to twist God's word, only to provide yet another analogy to ponder. I got thinking about what salt is used for: meat, potatoes, beans, stew, soup. Lots of things, but it's only a condiment. An addition, or topping. And usually, it's for strong and healthy foods.
Salt is not particularly palatable in large amounts (to put it lightly), and lost people simply turn away. But evenly spread out- over the meat and potatoes of the gospel- it can make a huge difference. We are salt of the world, but only good when used as an intriguing condiment for what really reaches people. Strong, life-giving meat that is the gospel.
Conversely, sugar can be eaten in large amounts. Sugar doesn't necessitate another food to go with it. Plain sugar is not healthy, but easily attractive all the same. The lost are easily fooled by sugar, and when they experience the results, they step back with fists clenched and hurt eyes misted by anger. Tragedy.
How I wish sometimes that sugar did not exist. Yet it does, and it is part of God's plan. He will work all things according to his plan, and I am simply blessed to be used as salt for spreading the gospel.
Keep offering life-giving meat and nourishing stew, for those who taste will surely reach for the salt as well.
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