Be Salty pt. 2

“You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt should lose its taste, how can it be made salty? It’s no longer good for anything but to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet." Matthew 5:13

Continuing my look at Matthew 5:13 (and James Boice's The Sermon on the Mount commentary) and the ways we can "be salty" is to provide flavor. Last post I discussed how salt was a preservative used in ancient times. Salt was used, like today, as a flavoring agent too. So, how do believer's bring "flavor" into their lives, the life of their community, their church, and to other people?

Imagine for a minute the blandness a food can have. I think of eggs. I love scrambled eggs, but I love them with a little zest. I have trouble eating eggs without something to give them less of that egg flavor. I will definitely use salt to help provide that flavor I need. The same is for Christians. We provide a flavor to the world that the world needs.

"Flavor" of the Christian life begins with Jesus. I could list numerous characteristics of a believer- joy, peace, mercy, love, grace, contentment, hope, excitement, etc. but they are not characteristics a believer can muster up on their own. The "flavor" of being the salt of the earth is the very presence of Jesus by the Holy Spirit exuding from us. So natural questions that should follow are:
1) How do I bring "flavor" to my workplace?
2) How do I bring "flavor" to my family?
3) How do I bring "flavor" to my community?
4) How do I bring "flavor" to people searching?

I think another aspect of "flavor" in being the salt of the earth is our creativity. I love music and I love all the different kinds available. I may not appreciate some styles as I do others, but I love that it is out there. In particular, I love groups that do different styles of music to worship. Even more, I believe that music is language that speaks to people differently. So, in our worship, a particular style may speak to one person or generation differently than another. That doesn't make it bad or not as good as one or the other, it just speaks a different language. I think that God finds that just fine. 

Being creative goes beyond just the arts too. How do we find our creativity in reaching people in a business? We have missionaries who are creating coffee shops to create spaces for conversations to happen. Conversations that hopefully will lead to Christ and His salvation. Via social media, technology, in education, social justice, service, etc all provide places for the "flavor" of being salt of the earth to believers. How are we finding ways to "be salty" within those avenues?