The Significance of Salt and Light in Our Lives

Based on Matthew 5:13-16

Salt of the Earth

Throughout history salt has been used primarily as either a preservative or flavor enhancer.  It is no secret that we love salt and I have a feeling that even in Jesus’ day, folks loved salt. In fact, salt was so valuable that Roman soldiers often received part of their pay in salt. They received their sal (salt) as a salarium, salaire (French), or salary (English). A salary is given to those who are “worth their salt”.

Food critic Jeffrey Steingarten writes in his book The Man Who Ate Everything, salt is essential to good food and good cooking. “It sharpens and defines the inherent flavors of foods and magnifies their natural aromas. Salt unites the diverse tastes in a dish, marries the sauce with the meat, and turns the pallid sweetness of vegetables into something complex and savory. Salt also deepens the color of most fruits and vegetables and keeps cauliflower white. Salt controls the ripening of cheese and improves its texture, strengthens the gluten in bread, and can preserve meat and fish, while transforming its texture. Cooked without salt, most dishes taste dull, lifeless, and lacking in complexity.”  That little crystal-like substance you have on your kitchen table does all of that…and more.  And Jesus says, “you are the salt of the earth.”

That should really give us pause and make us consider what our role is in life.  Just look at the words Mr. Steingarten uses (highlighted in bold) and ask yourself if we Christians are doing these things and more for the world.  Are we sharpening and defining the natural truths present in the world around us so others can see God’s hand in them?  Are we uniting diverse ideas and marrying creative energies to further the will of God?  Are we deepening, strengthening, preserving, and transforming our relationships with God and others?  Or, have we lost our flavor and as a result has the world around us become dull, lifeless, and lacking? You and I are the salt of the earth.  We are essential to a good world and a good life!

Light of the World

Light is energy. It provides warmth. It is the source of life on earth through photosynthesis. Light helps us to see, explore, discover, and communicate. Light provides health to the body through hormone controls, regulates our sleep cycles, and can boost our mood. Light is energy that provides warmth, life, health, safety, and human flourishing. This invisible energy, seen mainly through how it reflects on objects, is essential to life. Jesus said, “you are the light of the world“.

Again, we should pause and ask ourselves how are we light. Do we provide the warmth of God’s love to friends and strangers through our words and actions? Are we being life-giving and life-affirming with everyone our light touches; encouraging them to explore, discover, and communicate with God? Does our behavior bring health to the Body of Christ? Are we an invisible energy that reflects beautifully the eternal Love of Christ? Or, are we placing our light beneath the bushel basket of fear or false humility?

Be Salt & Light

We are salt and light when we allow God to work through us in word and deed. All that we do is either giving flavor or causing the world to become tasteless. All that we do is either shining the light of truth so that God may be glorified or foolishly putting it under the basket, leaving the world in darkness. Let us live each day as salt and light in this world.

May we one day hear, “Well done good and faithful servant. You magnified my light in the world and gave it my flavor. Here is your salarium, truly, you are worth your salt…“

Are you looking for resources for a great Lent? Check out this post!