Saltless

Salt is good; but if the salt has lost its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? – Luke 15:34

Have you tasted food that lacked salt?  How did you like it?  How do you prevent yourself from losing your flavor?

I don’t know about you but I personally enjoy good food and especially food with lots of flavor.  There is nothing worse than great food that has no taste or flavor.  Good food without flavor is a waste.  Among all the ingredients that are essential to bringing flavor in a meal, salt is the most important one.  Salt is a compound that can be used to season, preserve or heal.  It is essential in bringing flavor to a good meal.  A good chef is one who knows the proper use of salt in a meal.  My 10 year old daughter aspires to be a chef.  Since she was 6 or 7 years old she enjoyed watching the Food Network.  I always challenged her to demonstrate her true passion for cooking by cooking for the family and she recently took me up on that challenge.  During our vacation she offered to cook the first meal of the week.  She made chicken cheese parmesan with garlic mashed potatoes and it was good.  She had the perfect balance of salt in the meal; this girl has the potential of being a great chef.   Not only did we enjoy her meal, we kept the leftovers and they tasted even better the next day.  Another great sign of good cooking is that the leftovers are as good as, or better, than the original meal.  Without salt this great meal would have been a waste.

In Luke 14 Jesus is teaching His disciples about the cost of discipleship and concludes His teachings with this statement, “Salt is good; but if the salt has lost its flavor, how shall it be seasoned?  It is neither fit for the land nor for the dunghill, but men throw it out” Luke 14:34-35.

I have taught on Luke 14 for many years and never noticed this closing statement by Jesus; I would always stop at verse 33.  It is as though Jesus is saying the reason why you want to count the cost is so you can maintain your flavor all throughout the journey of following Him, for if your flavor is lost there is no use for you in the kingdom.  Jesus recognized that some of us begin our journey with lots of flavor; excited and enthusiastic about building His kingdom, fulfilling the Great commission and realizing God’s plan for our lives.  However along the journey, due to the trials of life, the sacrifices required, and the price to be paid, we become lukewarm or quit altogether.  It is better not to start on this journey unless you are prepared to go all the way to the end.  A saltless Christian is no Christian at all, just as salt has no use to the chef if it cannot exude flavor.

How salty are you?  How much flavor do you exude in your sphere of influence?  As Biblical Entrepreneurs we are called to be salt.  Wherever we do business and whatever the industry, we are to accomplish three objectives as the salts of the environment:

1. Seasoning– we are to bring flavor into the environment to make it more interesting and livelier.  The joy and enthusiasm that comes out of us should be contagious.
2. Preservation – we are to protect the people in our circle of influence from eternal damnation by sharing with them the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.  The only preservative that is sure to save men from eternal damnation is trusting Christ as their Lord and Savior.
3. Healing – we are to bring healing into our environment by allowing the Great Physician in us to manifest His powers through the operation of the Holy Spirit.  Because of our presence, relationships should improve, marriages should be restored and individuals facing physical illness should recover.

How are you doing?  How well are you seasoning, preserving and bringing healing into your sphere of influence?  If you are not, what good are you?  What is your purpose as a representative of Christ in the sphere you are operating in right now?  Seek the Lord for wisdom on how to enhance your saltiness that you may carry forth the purpose He has for you in your current sphere of influence.