Mat 5:13 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.
I am not a scientist and probably only got an A in Mr. King's class because he enjoyed a good argument especially over which branch of the military was the best. I do remember that NaCl is salt. My wife and I debate over the benefits of sea salt or some pink salt. I always say that NaCl is salt so salt is salt to which she begs to differ. For a long time, we went on a low salt regimen and I guess I still am somewhat as I rarely salt my food. Pepper or hot sauce, yes, but seldom any salt as salt is in practically everything including my hot sauce. That is why I prefer fresh jalapeno slices or dried red chili peppers.
Having been off of salt for a long time changed my appeal for my mother-in-law's fried chicken that I once thought was the best on the planet. Coming home for a visit, I drooled as she fried it but thought I had bitten into a salt block as I watched my father-in-law salt his without even tasting it. I had lost my taste or craving for salt, unlike Dad who was wanting more though he had a ton of it already in the chicken. Not sure how his body managed to handle that much salt.
That may be the problem of some Christians who are always looking for some new thing or complaining about their pastor's sermons. They have been around salt for so long and used to getting it that they were crying for more though they as the Body of Christ may not have been processing it as they should have thus they craved more seeking the benefit and flavor they should have already had. Indeed, they may be as persevered as a body buried in salt, but lifeless.
Coming into a congregation like that where the pastor has to constantly up the salt amount can be a bit overwhelming for a new Christian or especially an unbeliever who has been invited. They both may have come thirsty, but may have been given sea water instead of clear water and leaving them more thirsty than when they came in. The meat may have been too salty as well quenching their hunger not satisfying it. They leave with a bad taste in their mouth. If they had some wounds, too much salt may have been dumped into the wounds rather than just enough to promote healing and prevent the infection of bitterness or despair. In essence, the salt was useless and they cast it out and walked over it as they left.
Some churches try using a salt substitute to avoid people getting their blood pressure up. Well, KCL is used as a substitute, but the K can kill you if you get too much of that as it can affect heart, liver, and kidneys. Yea, blood pressure is lowered, but it can be even lowered to zero with the substitute. Trying to use anything else, but the true salt of the Word will also keep blood pressures down as nothing offensive or poignant may be preached, but in the end, it will affect the ability to process out lies and heresies leading to spiritual heart failure. Not good.
Some try to tinker with the salt to make it still useful without the negative side effects of people leaving the church or the unbelievers getting riled up. Well, Na2CL3 is not salt. Na3CL4 is not salt. Na is not salt. Cl is not salt. Just simple NaCl Adding to or taking away destroys the salt and will create something useless for souls seeking flavor. Indeed, Na3Cl is a metal. Hmm, maybe that is what happens when NaCl is resisted in the spiritual realm. Your heart turns to metal. That definitely would be a hardened heart. Na3Cl only happens when NaCl is under pressure which is what happens when a pastor is under pressure to change NaCl to please the congregation or the culture. It may also happen when NaCl seeks to salt the heart and the hearer becomes convicted and uses all the pressure he can to resist it. The result is a dead metal message and a dead metal heart.
You can also water down salt so that it is hardly noticeable. I can put the right amount of salt in a glass of water and you would not taste it at first or at all. Only if I put a great deal in would you notice it immediately. Indeed, reading the ingredients of many foods and drinks you would be surprised to find salt in them as you cannot taste it. God meant us to be salt that could be tasted and seen. Salt on a soft pretzel is easy to see and be tasted. There is no doubt about that salt. I could not see it, but there was no doubt that there was salt in my mother-in-law's chicken. We are not to water down the salt or hide it. That makes it useless.
Salt is also processed to remove impurities by heating the brine and sometimes it is gathered through an evaporation process. God often removes the impurities that are in His salt shakers because His salt is pure, but the shakers can be contaminated. He also can do this by allowing the shakers to come under heat or by a dry spell. Often His salt is rejected because of the shaker that is shaking it out to the world. When that happens either by sin or because the shaker has made itself unappealing by its demeanor God cleans the shaker or takes it out of use.
The world and the Church need pure salt dispensed properly out of clean shakers. Sometimes people have been paid in salt because it was so valuable. The best reference a person could get is to have someone say he is worth his salt. So are you worth your salt that is in you? Are you trying to tinker with God's NaCl? Do you need a cleansing job or a change of delivery methods? Go to the Lord and asked to be made into what He can use so that your salt does not lose it savor, flavor or appeal with you and it being useless and trampled over. You want to be worth your salt, not useless salt. Maranatha!
