Jesus told the
disciples, “You are the salt of the earth.” This was an amazing declaration
of His faith in His followers to make a difference in the world by making a
difference in the lives of individuals that we meet. When preacher-types like
me talk about this verse we remind folks what salt does: it adds flavor, it
keeps foods from spoiling, and it melts ice. All are great metaphors for what
Christ followers are to be in the world.
One of these metaphors has become more meaningful for me
recently. I have spent most of the last two winters in the Chicago, Illinois
area. Wow, do those folks know how to have a winter! Snow lands on the ground
around Thanksgiving and may finally be gone by Easter, providing Easter does
not come too early on the calendar. It gets cold and stays cold. And yet people
live and function through it all. They get to work, to the store, usually to church,
and always to the sporting events even as the snow piles high and temperatures
drop.
I grew up in Wichita, Kansas. It’s not exactly one of the
great vacation spots in the winter either, but there are respites between
terrible cold spells and any snow they get tends to melt in just a few days. It
only seems longer. When it snows in Wichita, it’s a big deal. They know it will
come, but they seem to deny it, at least on the roads.
In Northern Illinois they put salt and other similar
chemicals on the roads as soon as snow threatens. Ice usually melts on the road
as soon as it forms. The roads usually remain passible. I was reminded when I
was in Kansas early last winter how different things are out there when it
snows. Instead of using salt to melt the snow and ice on the roads, the Wichitans
put down sand. I guess their philosophy is that the sand will give vehicles traction
on the ice. While the road department in Northern Illinois believes it’s better
to just get the snow and ice to melt and go away, in Wichita, after a big
snowstorm people slip and slide for several days, and hope the snow melts on
its own.
The point of all this
is actually a question I want to ask: Are
you being sand or salt to the world? Is your life—your actions and
attitudes—melting the icy cold of sin in your community, in your family, at
work, or even at church? Or, are you contributing to the grit? Do your actions
and attitudes act like an abrasive to people who are already troubled by their
sins?
You can be salt by
coating all you do with Christ’s love, especially when you confront sin. Remember when the woman was caught in
adultery (John 8)? He didn’t accept her sin, but neither did He rebuke her
as a person. Instead He gave her hope by telling her to go and sin no more. He
showed her that he believed she could do better. He melted her heart and
dissolved the sin.
In this same story
the Pharisees were sand. They caught her in the act. They had her dead to
rights, and they wanted her dead. They did nothing to melt the sin in her life,
nothing to redeem her. They were only abrasive grit. While Jesus offered her
hope, they offered her only condemnation.
So again: Are you
salt? Or are you sand? Are you a change agent of hope, or are you an agent of
condemnation?
