Salt

 Yesterday morning when I went out at 8 am to do the school run the car doors were frozen up solid and there was such a thick crusting of ice on the windscreen that the scraper wouldn't shift it.  I had to get out the  de-icing spray stuff.     It was unexpectedly absolutely baltic, and combined with freezing fog it made the drive into town a bit scary.   The roads hadn't been gritted.  Everyone was proceeding with extreme caution.    

Matthew 5 :13   “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.

I've written about salt in previous Advent blogs.  This time I want to focus on the first two words of this passage...... You are.

I dont know about you. but when I read ' You are the salt of the earth.... You are the light of the world ( v 14) Im saying it in my head as though Im speaking to someone else.  Projecting the meaning onto everyone out there and not really fully grasping that what Jesus is saying is that I , me, Caz ( insert you own name here) am the salt of the earth.

I am the salt of the earth.  If I lose my saltiness how can I be made salty again. I will be no good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.

There have been times this year when I have felt that Ive been thrown out and trampled over. I guess we all have times in our lives when we feel a bit like that.  At those times I tend to retreat into my own little pity party and feel hard done by.  But perhaps instead I should be examining my salt levels and working out where Im leaking 😁🧂

When you look up 'salt' on Wikipedia ( that fount of all knowledge and textbook of truth) you come up with phrases like ' essential to life and health' and ' pivotal to civilisation'.  Wars have been fought over salt.   That, according to Jesus, is who I am.  I'm essential.  I'm pivotal. I'm worth fighting for.  2,000 years ago people didn't know about the chemical make up of salt or why it did what it did for food - preserving and adding flavour - they just knew that in the days pre-refrigeration, it was an essential. And trade in salt was hugely important.  Jesus picked an example which made massive sense to His listeners and through using it He told them they were powerful, valuable, essential - Im not quite sure if that's what we hear when we read that passage of Scripture today.

Weilczka Salt mine in Poland. A truly memorable visit on one of
many mission trips to Poland

So what about the next part...... if I lose my saltiness how can I be made salty again?   Ha!  Well, guess what?  Salt can't lose its saltiness!!!  If it's pure salt then it remains pure salt forever, regardless of what is done to it.  BUT, if its not pure salt, if its full of additives and substitutes, then its saltiness can be watered down until its next to useless.   Its a bit like someone cutting heroin with baking soda and rat poison!!  The less pure the substance the less effective it will be.    In Jesus day people would have blocks of salt in their homes which they would use for preserving food and adding to food for flavour.  If that salt came from salt marshes rather than mines then it was likely to be full of impurities and when left outside could degrade to the  point where the salt content was minimal.  At which point the block would be chucked out and a new one purchased.   But pure rock salt ( much more expensive) never degraded.  Hence the value of the salt mines and the trade in salt across the world. 

Am I pure salt?

No.  Im not. But I want to be.  I want there to be fewer impurities in my life, more holiness, more Jesus , less Caz.   And the good news this Advent is that I think Im a tiny bit more salty than I was last year.  And so are you.  And I know this because we are promised that ' He who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it.'   Hallelujah!

( Couldnt resist this for all you ECFers 😁)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8cm9JqFylmY