SALT

I don’t know about you, but when I watch a programme like the current Master Chef series on at the moment, I’m inspired to try something new. If I’m honest though, the inspiration hardly ever makes it to the kitchen.

One thing I learnt early on in my marriage was that trying something new, when you’ve invited people over for dinner, is never a good idea. I remember sitting around the table thinking, “this is terrible”, while our guests struggled to find something positive to commend me on. Awkward. Our guests were nothing like the judges on Master Chef who hold nothing back when it comes to critiquing the food of contestants. When the judges are unimpressed words like unrefined, bland, ordinary are used to describe the dishes. When they are impressed they describe a dish as having “bold flavours” and “well seasoned”

Well Seasoned. Salt is one of the key seasonings we use when we cook. It has a distinct flavour and enhances that of others when added to food. A friend who is a chef told me that a pinch of salt added to any baking helps the other ingredients work together to improve the end product. Salt is also used in the preservation of food.

In what is perhaps the most famous sermon in history, known as the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus tells his followers “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.” Matthew 5:13 (NIV)

This statement is within a larger message about the Kingdom of God (his reign and his rule) that Jesus, came to establish on earth. Jesus is saying to those who follow him, “You are an essential ingredient and part of my Kingdom here on earth. One that will enhance and preserve my rule.”

He then goes on to make a pretty full on point. Salt that isn’t salty is good for nothing. If his followers aren’t doing the job of enhancing and preserving his kingdom, they aren’t fulfilling their purpose, or achieving what he’s called them too.

The Message paraphrase puts it like this: “Let me tell you why you are here. You’re here to be salt-seasoning that brings out the God-flavors of this earth. If you lose your saltiness, how will people taste godliness? You’ve lost your usefulness and will end up in the garbage.”

So what does it look like?

In a world today that is saturated by consumerism, materialism, corruption, lack of integrity, power seeking, injustice, poverty … this list goes on, we have an opportunity to be salt; to make a difference, to be the difference. In the eyes of God we are considered a key ingredient in his plan of redemption and restoration, in his plan to see His kingdom established on earth as it is in heaven. We can be the ingredient that enhances, improves and develops the world for the better. A seasoning that brings out the good God flavours and preserves the kingdom Jesus came to establish on earth. A kingdom built upon purity, truth, faith, hope, justice and love.

Tastes pretty good to me.

SamMe

(originally published in the NZ WarCry 1 June 2013)