Has the Church Become Empty Salt Shakers – Part 2

                   By Patrick Hawthorne

“You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt should become-tasteless, with what will it be salted? It no longer has strength for anything except, having been thrown outside, to be trampled-underfoot by people. (Matthew 5:13 Disciples Literal New Testament).

In my last post,  Has the Church Become Empty Salt Shakers? I wrote, “Yes, we tout our conversions for Christ as some great achievement, but where is the discipleship?  Where are the “Doer’s of the Word and not hearers only?”  We have more biblical knowledge than any generation before us.  Yet, why is this world so dark? Is it because we are hiding our lights under the cover of our churches?  Are we so busy with our inward fighting of each other that we are failing in our good fight of faith?”

I received some wonderful comments, but two really stood out.  One came from Donald Norris who wrote, ” By being the salt of the earth, we are called to make others thirsty for the Word of God.”  (underline mine).  That really made me stop and think.

Do I live the Gospel?  Do I live my life in such a way that I make others thirsty for what I have as has been given to me through my Lord Jesus?  You see, it is one thing to speak the Gospel.  It is another thing to live the Gospel.  If we fail to live the Gospel, we become as tasteless salt having no value other than to be waste on the ground.  This leads to the other comment made by Pastor Mel Wild.

Pastor Mel wrote, “One thing about Jesus’ illustration here is that old salt was often pounded into the cracks in the Roman roads so that the soldiers could walk over it unhindered. So, when Jesus says it would be “trampled underfoot,” He was giving the picture of the enemy using our “un-saltiness” to fulfill his purposes unhindered by us! Pretty sad when you see it that way! But it’s true, the enemy often uses immature and carnal Christians to fulfill his agenda.” (underline mine).

As born again Christ-In children of our Heavenly Father, we must move beyond merely speaking the Word; we must live the Word.  Yes, the Gospel is the power of God unto salvation (Romans 1:16), but unless we live what we profess, we are no better than the Scribes and the Pharisees.  If you recall, Jesus called them hypocrites.  Be blessed.