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 (Matthew 5:13).

Salt is a funny thing.  Too much of it will make you gag.  Too too much of it will kill you outright.  And yet it is essential to life.

Salt is easy to overlook, easy to forget about.  When you’re cooking, it’s fun to focus on the interesting spices—cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom.  Who notices salt?  But just leave that pinch of salt out of your recipe and see how bland your meal becomes.

Salt is preserving.

Salt is healing.

Salt brings out the flavor of food.

People are funny.

God can use us to bring out the best in others.

To heal

To preserve

We are sometimes overlooked, but we are an essential component of God’s plan for the lives around us.

And yet, when we put too much of ourselves into the mix—when we try too hard to be noticed—we mess up the recipe.

Look, I know this is an awkward analogy, but I’m sticking with it.

You are the salt of the earth.  Your saltiness—that which makes you useful to God—is the Holy Spirit working in you.  When you try to work in your own power, you lose your saltiness.  There’s too much you.  And you mess things up.

And your work is pretty much worthless.

Don’t try to work for God today, Beloved.  Instead, let him work through you.  Let him sprinkle you where he will, and let the Holy Spirit do his job in the lives around you, using you to bring out the best that is in them.

It’s a lot easier, and it won’t make people gag.