Jesus. Matthew 5:13. Hi, it’s Nathan, and this is Day 11 of 30 Days on the Mount of Blessing. Salt. Preserves. Enhances. Melts. Corrodes. Essential to life. What did Jesus have in mind when he called his followers ‘salt’? Was it all of these? Was he thinking about a Jesus-follower’s capacity to positively influence their environment? Was he thinking about their preservative effect—slowing down a society’s mad-dash toward self-destruction? Was he thinking about the power of genuine Jesus’ people to enhance and lift up the people around them? Was he thinking about the power of God-derived love to melt iced-over hearts and locked up relationships? Was he thinking about how much a good-functioning society depends on the presence of true-blue Jesus-followers? Probably. He was also thinking about something else. Something very different: the total uselessness of the church—or believer—who’s no longer closely connected to him. The boasting Christian who’s life literally contradicts everything Jesus stood for. The church-going folks who’s lives are not life-giving, but corrosive—a curse, not a blessing, to the society they keep.
