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“Ye are the salt of the earth:
but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is
thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot
of men.” (Matt 5:13) Have you ever considered sin an alloy? It could
easily be so considered. It is inextricably mixed in the nature of humankind.
Jesus spoke well when He said that we should be the "salt of the
earth." (Matt 5:13)
God made salt and He knows, better than any
other, the nature of salt. Salt, NaCL, is a compound of Sodium (a soft yellow metal)
and chlorine (an invisible, odorless gas). Both are poison when taken
separately. Sodium is never found in nature in its pure state. It will always
be joined to some other element such as carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, etc. In order
to form salt that we use at the table, the pure substance, it must be separated
from those elements and joined to chlorine. Chlorine is a deadly gas used in
WWI as a chemical warfare weapon. But when joined to the soft metal, sodium, it
forms an essential for life. If we look upon Chlorine gas as being as deadly as
the rejection of God is to the sinner; and sodium as the sinner always joined
to worldly elements without God, then the words of Jesus makes more sense. If
not joined to God, the sinner will always be joined to other elements of the
world. We bring our best treasure to God - our hearts. We may enjoy that holy
state and joy if we are joined to Christ and remain separate from the world.
If salt is left sitting on the earth for a
prolonged period of time, the sodium will begin to separate from the chlorine
and will begin to unite with other elements of the earth. It will no longer be
salt that is essential for life, but an altogether different compound. The
Christian who spends too much time in contact with the world and its elements,
as Lot experienced while in Sodom, his heart will begin to separate from his
spiritual graces and virtues as those are replaced by the vices and sins peculiar
to the world.
“He was a burning and a shining light: and ye
were willing for a season to rejoice in his light.” The Light John bore was not
truly his own light, but it was the Light of Christ. John was a mirror only to
reflect the Light and was not the generator of it. The moon is merely the
reflector of that great light of the Sun and is not the generator thereof for
it cannot be. You and I, too, may be those lower lights referred to in that old
hymn, Brightly Beams our Father’s Mercy.
God Himself is the great Searchlight sent out from the Lighthouse across the
stormy waves and shoals. Men, at their wits end in fighting the sails and helm,
look with salty eyes into the gloom and, “Look! A Lighthouse” beams its hope
from secure harbor to their frightful and foundering vessel. They bear toward
it for it is their only hope. Coming near to harbor, there remains to be
navigated among the salient bars and hidden rocks of the harbor. But God has
provided Lower Lights (His people) to guide the vessel to safe port and
anchorage beneath that great Light that saved them. Have you lately been a
Lower Light for Christ? If so, your light is not your own, but the reflected
Light of the Light of the World. Like the Moon in eclipse, if the world gets
between you and that great Light, your light will be darkness.
We read in Matthew 5 that Jesus calls us
(believers) the light of the world: “Ye are the light of the
world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid” (Matt 5:14) (KJV) and later Jesus proclaims Himself the Light of the World. Is
this a contradiction? Not at all. Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in
darkness, but shall have the light of life. (John 8:12) Jesus is the Sun of
Righteousness. The light of the moon is actually the reflected light of the sun
just as our light is only the reflected light of our Sun of Righteousness.
Light has some amazing characteristics. It reveals truth – those things that
have been hidden in darkness. It shows the safe way to walk. It gives life to
all that lives. If is comprised of every color of the rainbow when filtered
through a prism. And light is honest – it ALWAYS travels in a straight line. If
our light is the reflected Light of Christ, that Light will bear fruit in the
hearts of untold numbers.
