When Salt Loses its Saltiness…
Matthew 5:13 is a verse that I’m sure many of us can recall.
(Matthew 5:13 AMP)
“You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has lost its taste (purpose), how can it be made salty? It is no longer good for anything, but to be thrown out and walked on by people [when the walkways are wet and slippery]
(Matthew 5:13 KJV)
“13 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. “
And when you understand the overall importance of salt, it’s no small thing to be likened to salt as a believer. For those who don’t know, salt has such an important cultural background. Let’s understand more of its importance from the Strong’s Concordance Topical Lexicon:
“Salt was indispensable in the first-century Mediterranean world. It preserved meat and fish in the absence of refrigeration, mitigated corruption in stored food, enhanced flavor, and was traded as a valued commodity. Roman soldiers sometimes received part of their wages in salt, giving rise to the term “salary.””
So, we see that salt played an important role.
However, my question was, “Well, how does salt lose its saltiness…?” We see in verse 13 that Saints are likened to salt, yet the word “but” emphasizes a noticeable shift.
The phrase “have lost his savour” in the Strong’s Concordance is entry number 3471 and is the Greek word: Mórainó (mo-rah-ee-no). It means to make foolish, to become foolish, to lose savor.
And is explained as such:
Topical Lexicon:
“…in scripture, folly is not a mere mental defect but a moral failure to honor God, while tastelessness portrays a believer whose testimony no longer influences the surrounding world.”
Yikes…talk about ineffective.
The bottom line is, foolish behavior renders us useless in the things of God. It’s the very thing that causes our salt to lose its saltiness. You become ineffective in the things of God, no longer preserving His principles and only fit to be thrown down to the ground and walked on because of your ineffectiveness; and as the topical lexicon explained, “your testimony no longer influences the surrounding world”…
Let us continue walking in wisdom, displaying our distinctiveness, and preserving His principles so that we are ever growing and useful in the things of God.
2 Peter 1:5-8
“5 But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, 6 to knowledge self-control, to self-control [d]perseverance, to perseverance godliness, 7 to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. 8 For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither [e]barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”