“You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trodden under foot by men” (Matt. 5:13).

Unlike today, salt in the older days was a very precious and somewhat costly commodity. In fact, when paying taxes to the Roman government salt was sometimes used as payment. Its need to preserve and to add that little extra flavor to food was not only appetizing; it was a “must” for preserving food from spoiling. No wonder Jesus used this analogy in the Sermon on the Mount, everyone understood its value. Everyone also knew that salt could go bad; it was not as pure as our salt today and because of the chemical reactions that can take place, salt can actually become nothing more than tasteless impurities, worthless. Hence, that salt was tossed out into the streets to be “trodden under foot by men.”

Have you ever heard anyone saying to another, “You’re not good for anything?” If you have, then that is exactly what Jesus is saying too: “If salt has lost its taste, it is no longer good for anything!” What a tragic and horrifying experience it would be; to stand before God at judgment, and hear Him say, “You were not good for anything.” In the parable of the Talents our Lord uses like words to the ‘one talent man’, “You wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sowed, and gather where I have not winnowed? Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest. For to every one who has will more be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who has not, even what he has will be taken away. And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness; there men will weep and gnash their teeth (Matt. 25:26-30).

Make no mistake, God demands active performance from His people. Christ asked the question, “"Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom his master has set over his household, to give them their food at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whom his master when he comes will find so doing” (Matt. 24:45-46).

“Find so doing.” What did you do for the Lord, today? What did you do, yesterday? What are your plans for tomorrow that you might “glorify your Father who is in heaven (Matt. 5:16)? If you have no plans for service to Christ and His kingdom and maybe have answered, “nothing” to any of the above questions…there is a chance the Lord looks at you as, “no longer good for anything.”

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BVidlar

“What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him” (Psalm 8:4)?

Butch, very good thoughts and encouraging. Thanks for posting.

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--Laura

O Lord, I know the way of man is not in himself; It is not in man who walks to direct his own steps.
Jeremiah 10:23 (NKJV)